Allan McNish
BBC Radio 5 live analyst

Few issues at T9 (Copse) I would say.....

Image source, ALlan McNish

Right, we're about to get to the meat of this session.

The quicker medium tyres are about to go on and the qualifying simulation runs are about to begin.

Stand by yer beds.

James Matthews: Colin Chapman. Absolute genius and integral part to so many championships for Lotus.

Chris Tring: Has to be our Nige, the epitome of British grit an determination.

Adam: In terms of who's done most for the sport, it has to be Bernie Ecclestone. Sorry.

Tom Clarkson
BBC F1 pit-lane reporter

"Nico Rosberg is definitely not going out again. He's got a gearbox oil leak."

Image source, Tom Clarkson

@NoneOneMany: Early doors at Abbey for Practice 3 for the BritishGP at Silverstone

Image source, @Noneonemany

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

"In the context of that team principals' news conference, I feel it's time to correct a few misconceptions. Travelling into the track this morning, 5 live were carrying an item about Formula 1, in which they had interviewed fans at the grand prix on Friday about why they loved the sport.

"All did, obviously, but many expressed some of the misgivings that have been uttered by the likes of Bernie Ecclestone and Christian Horner in recent months and years. Some said they thought the new turbo hybrid engines were too quiet. One said that he was at Le Mans this year and 'those cars are faster than F1 now'. This is a widespread belief, but it is simply not true.

"The fastest qualifying lap at the Silverstone World Endurance Championship race was a one minute 39.534. Nico Rosberg did a 1:34.155 in free practice in Friday, and will go at least a second faster in qualifying on Saturday. The fastest WEC race lap was 1:40.836. Rosberg was doing 1:38s in his race simulation - and that was a start-of-the-race fuel load, off which you can take three seconds for an end-of-race lap. So, in fact, F1 cars are five seconds a lap faster than the WEC cars.

"Where do these erroneous ideas come from?"

Image source, AFP

Boom.

Battle is joined between the Mercedes.

Nico Rosberg flashed round in a 1:33.731 - six tenths up on Hamilton - but the world champion responded just minutes later, a 1:33.333 raising the bar by 0.398.

The Mercedes cars were pretty much the last to set a time in this session, but inevitably when they did they vaulted straight to the top of the order.

Lewis Hamilton, on his first hot lap, is fastest on a 1:34.399, with team-mate Nico Rosberg just 0.037secs in arrears.

They we have the Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat in third (0.375 back), Vettel's Ferrari fourth, the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth and Bottas' Williams sixth.

All of these times have been set on the hard (slower) compound.

You've been sending us loads of pictures from the stands and fan areas today, some of which we've already shared with you.

Keep them coming to #bbcf1 please.

Image source, Richard Seston

Image source, Adam Mealand

Image source, Wayne Gourley

Sarah Fuller: We're at #Silverstone #BritishGP YIPPEE!

Image source, Sarah Fuller

Toro Rosso are coming good on the promise showed on Friday.

They are right in the mix at ther sharp end today, with Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen third and fourth at present.

Sebastian Vettel leads the way in the Ferrari at the moment with a 1:34.932.

Top six: Vettel, Bottas, Sainz, Verstappen, Massa, Perez.

Charlie: Fair bit of wind at Farm Curve at Silverstone.

Image source, @Charldawg

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

"Looking for a dark horse this weekend? It could be a Red Bull team. The lead cars were looking much more competitive on Friday than they did in Austria and Canada, the car's strong aerodynamic qualities showing through with Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo in fifth and sixth place. And the Toro Rosso junior team were also looking strong. Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz were only seventh and ninth on headline lap times, but the car was working very well in the high-speed corners and their race-simulation times were strong.

"Afterwards, Verstappen was positively brimming with confidence. The car is very good here," said the Dutchman. "You can see again in high speed we are the fastest cars. The car is very enjoyable to drive. The long run was very good. I was very happy with the long run. I had Mercedes in front of me that wasn't pulling away a lot, and in general the car balance was very positive. I think we can be very strong on race pace. I think only Mercedes was a bit faster.' Verstappen says a place on the fourth row of the grid is 'realistic'."

Mercedes on Twitter:, external Much cooler Silverstone today: track temp of 27 compared to 35 during FP1.

We've seen this a lot this year. Williams were pretty anonymous on Friday but come third practice they begin to show a little bit more of their true pace.

They've just gone one and two, Bottas top on a 1:35.082, with Felipe Massa second, four tenths back.

Force India on Twitter:, external Heading out in quick succession, Nico and Checo leave the pits.

Image source, Force India

Jonathan Armstrong: On our way!

Ah, a lovely morning stroll through Silverstone village. Lucky you.

Image source, Jonathan Armstrong

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, AFP/GETTY

"A McLaren did not break down on track on Friday, which was a pleasant surprise after the awful weekends preceding this one in Austria and Canada but that hardly made it a good day.

"Limited by the age of their engines, and the desire to limit future penalties as much as possible, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button managed only 57 laps between them across the two sessions. To put that into perspective, the Mercedes drivers did 95 - and that was with Nico Rosberg missing the vast majority of first practice because his car stopped out on track with a loss of hydraulic pressure. The McLarens were not very fast either.

"Alonso, nearly half a second up on Button, was 2.5 seconds off the pace. 'Getting into Q2 is going to be tough,' the Spaniard said. 'Only Sauber seems in our pace. The others are a little bit too quick for us, so we need to beat the Saubers if we want to be in Q2. Once we do maximum performance in qualifying we try to see the chequered flag in the race.'"

Grosjean duly puts up the first quick lap of the day, a 1:36.784. He's swiftly displaced by the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen (1:36.718).

Fernando Alonso's McLaren has just slotted into second.

Early days.

FP3 is go.

The Lotus of Romain Grosjean is the first man out.