Silverstone sizzles as Senna sits on the sidelines

A sun drenched day in Northamptonshire saw an incredible 85,000 people take to the revamped Silverstone venue. McLaren had much of the support in the stands but were left with many issues as they struggled to optimise their new package while Red Bull looked strongest on a track that should be ideal for the RB6. Mark Webber ended the day on top after Sebastian Vettel led the first session. It wasn't all perfect for the Australian though as he suffered an electrical problem late in the afternoon. McLaren were off the pace and Lewis Hamilton had many trips off the circuit. He struggled particularly at the new Abbey corner, which was quite bumpy and there were lots of drivers going wide there as well as the slow speed loop section. This should be easier as the track, which started dusty, improves but the Abbey bump will remain and nailing it in Q3 will be key in the battle for pole position tomorrow.

Breaking news tonight is that McLaren will not run their new exhaust system for the rest of the weekend and that the previous spec version will be on their car for the remainder of the weekend. It a real hit to threir hopes of home glory this weekend. It looks like it should be a Red Bull domination if we have a 'normal' race. Ferrari will have blown exhausts and F-Ducts on their cars and will hope they can show the strong pace that they believe they had in Valencia but were unable to display. Mercedes had a decent run aswell though they have tended to run well on Fridays before slipping down the order. Force India seem to benefit from their SRW, especially Adrian Sutil and Williams also looked strong as they look to built on their great result in Valencia. Vitaly Petrov will be keen to be in the fight for Q3 as rumours that Kimi Raikkonen, who had a big crash in the WRC today, could replace him next year.

Virgin and Lotus both had good days with major new developments for their cars. Lotus had reliabilty issues throughout the day though, including engine and power steering problems. A lot of attention was on HRT. They dropped Bruno Senna on Thursday evening and replaced him with Sakon Yamamoto who has raced 14 times in F1 with Super Aguri and Spkyer. It seem that it was a money issue but the team announced that Senna was still part of the team. It is a bit of a mystery and a real shame for the Brazilian. He seemed unaware as the news was breaking, tweeting about going around the track with Karun Chandhok. His F1 future is certainly under some doubt for now.

So it looks set to be another Vettel/Webber battle for pole. With rain unlikely for Saturday or Sunday, the Red Bull team will feel confident of a 1-2. However this season has produced enough twists and turns to make assumptions foolish. Ferrari and McLaren will want to get amongst the action and the modfield battle will be fierce. The new layout is testing for the drivers so producing when it counts will be vital. Qualifying starts at 1pm tomorrow.

How Senna's legacy lives 16 years on

May 1st 1994, the darkest day of the darkest weekend in Formula 1 history. 3 times world champion Ayrton Senna crashed whilst leading the San Marino Grand Prix on lap 6 and was later pronounced dead. A day earlier, Austrian Roland Ratzenberger was killed during Qualifying. The weekend also seen several other serious injuries. It triggered widespread safety measures to be implemented and thankfully no driver has been killed at a race track since.

The wonder of Senna was not just his 3 championships and 41 wins, it was his stunning qualifying speed, his supreme wet weather ability and the win at all costs approach which would regularly spark controversy. I did not personally see Senna race as I only followed F1 from 1997 but hace been fascinated by his career and races like Monaco 1984 and Donnington 1993 showed why the Brazilian is hailed as one of the greatest to ever compete in Formula 1. There was also however a human side to Senna. When his car was examined after his fatal accident, a blood-drenched Austrian flag was found showing how he would have payed respect to Ratzenberger. He donated millions to charity, something which only became public after his death. The Ayrton Senna Foundation has helped young people in Brazil through different projects. If you post a message on Twitter from now till May 15th with the hashtag #sennavive the Foundation's various partners will donate about 75p.

The 2010 season has seen Bruno Senna, Ayrton's Nephew enter Formula 1 with the HRT team. Bruno drove karts from a young age but was stopped by his family after his uncle's accident. He eventually returned to single seater racing and came 2nd in the GP2 championship in 2008. His campaign included a classy win at Monaco. It's been a tough start for Bruno in F1 but perhaps one day he will reach the top step of the podium and make it win number 42 for the Senna name