It took 76 minutes for Ricciardo to set the first timed lap, clocking a time over two minutes before improving over his next eight attempts. His lap prompted a flurry of activity in the final ten minutes but several drivers still opted not to head back out or returned to the pits before the end of the lap and so did not set a time.
Lewis Hamilton led at one stage, briefly lifting the spirits of the drenched British crowd, but Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg and Pastor Maldonado all went faster before the end of the session. Ricciardo's best time was 0.784s faster than his closest rival.
FIRST FREE PRACTICE
P. DRIVER TEAM TIME GAP LAPS
1. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:54.249 10
2. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:55.033 + 0.784 7
3. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:55.354 + 1.105 7
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:55.458 + 1.209 5
5. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:55.825 + 1.576 9
6. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:56.361 + 2.112 7
7. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:57.891 + 3.642 4
8. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:58.859 + 4.610 6
9. Max Chilton Marussia 1:59.719 + 5.470 7
10. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:59.876 + 5.627 8
11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 2:06.534 + 12.285 6
12. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG no time 3
13. Paul di Resta Force India no time 4
14. Romain Grosjean Lotus no time 1
15. Jenson Button McLaren no time 1
16. Adrian Sutil Force India no time 4
17. Fernando Alonso Ferrari no time 4
18. Mark Webber Red Bull no time 1
19. Sergio Perez McLaren no time 1
20. Charles Pic Caterham no time 3
21. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull no time 4
22. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus no time 0
The British fans will have been encouraged to have seen Paul di Resta fourth quickest ahead of Lewis Hamilton, while there were timely performances from both Toro Rosso drivers with Daniel Ricciardo sixth and Jean-Eric Vergne seventh. Track conditions were much better than this morning's washout, but Felipe Massa was still a casualty of the session as he lost control at Stowe Corner and wiped the front end of his car off against the wall, with the Ferrari coming to a stop at the pit lane entrance. It was the third consecutive race weekend in which Massa has had an accident and restricted him to just seven laps of running.
Interest at Lotus surround the testing of the team's drag reduction device (DRD) on Kimi Raikkonen's car, with Raikkonen not showing his hand on low fuel but setting quick times late in the session on hard tyres. The team is expected to race the device for the first time this weekend after being pleased with the progress made during an aerodynamic test at Idiada. Romain Grosjean - ninth quickest - was not without upgrades either as he ran updated bodywork on the E21.
Another team running at Idiada this week was McLaren, but neither of its drivers troubled the top ten with Jenson Button 11th and Sergio Perez just behind Raikkonen in 14th place. McLaren still appeared to be struggling with the ride of its car over the bumps as it ended the session 1.5s off the pace.
SECOND FREE PRACTICE
P. DRIVER TEAM TIME GAP LAPS
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:32.248 33
2. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:32.547 + 0.299 26
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:32.680 + 0.432 31
4. Paul di Resta Force India 1:32.832 + 0.584 34
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:32.911 + 0.663 28
6. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:33.171 + 0.923 34
7. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:33.290 + 1.042 38
8. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:33.313 + 1.065 34
9. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:33.322 + 1.074 38
10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:33.494 + 1.246 32
11. Jenson Button McLaren 1:33.740 + 1.492 29
12. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:33.896 + 1.648 36
13. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:34.120 + 1.872 30
14. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:34.130 + 1.882 29
15. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:34.998 + 2.750 32
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:35.070 + 2.822 29
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:35.127 + 2.879 35
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:35.802 + 3.554 27
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:35.984 + 3.736 32
20. Charles Pic Caterham 1:36.079 + 3.831 35
21. Max Chilton Marussia 1:37.329 + 5.081 33
22. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:43.466 + 11.218 7
