F1 Paddock Notebook – British GP Friday

- The latest twist in the Rich Energy saga unfolded (as much of it has) on Twitter on Friday when a letter sent by lawyers acting on behalf of Haas F1 was posted to the brand’s account. In it, Jeremy Courtenay-Stamp of The Ebury Partnership said he was unsure how the shareholders could expect to wrestle control of the company away from CEO William Storey, as well as revealing the F1 team had concerns about the “solvency/ongoing viability of the company”.

- Rich Energy had a deadline to pay damages to Whyte Bikes by Saturday, but Whyte Bikes confirmed on Friday evening that it was yet to receive any of the costs through, prompting it to consider other legal options. Here’s our look at how the saga has escalated up to this weekend.

- Mercedes ended the day at the top of the timesheets with Valtteri Bottas heading up a one-two finish in FP2 ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, sitting two-tenths of a second clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Both Bottas and Hamilton were cautiously optimistic of Mercedes' chances heading into the remainder of the weekend as it looks to bounce back from its Austria defeat.

- While Leclerc sat within spitting distance of the Mercedes at the front, Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto warned of high tyre wear - not unusual for Silverstone, even if unusual for the 2019 compounds - that the team needed to find a solution to overnight. "Somehow this was really affecting the single qualifying lap, because if you look very closely, we were strong in the first and second sectors, but weak on the last one," Binotto said.

- A number of drivers struggled to find grip on the newly-resurfaced Silverstone tarmac, which had to be relaid following the drainage issues that led to the cancellation of last year's MotoGP race. Lando Norris, George Russell and Romain Grosjean were just three of the drivers to spin their cars, while many had off-track excursions. Windy conditions also didn't aid matters, with a sprinkling of rain also hitting the track briefly towards the end of FP1 in the morning.

- While most said the track was smoother than it had been last year after the resurfacing, Daniel Ricciardo warned there were still some bumpy sections that could cause issues for the MotoGP riders once again later in the year.

- Grosjean's spin was not the most embarrassing moment of his day, though. A mistake exiting the pits caused him to spin his car and hit the barrier while still in the pit lane, taking the front wing off his Haas VF-19 car - the team had reverted to its Australia-spec setup for the weekend. Grosjean did not talk much about the incident after the session, only calling it "embarrassing".

- The only red flag of the day was triggered by Kimi Raikkonen in FP1 when he stopped on-track due to an engine issue. Alfa Romeo confirmed he had been running a Friday engine, meaning he will not be due to face any grid penalty for a new part.

- Daniel Ricciardo also hit trouble due to an engine issue, but he too was running an old-spec Friday engine. Renault will switch him to the latest-spec part ahead of Saturday's running as planned. Valtteri Bottas lost some track time due to a spark plug issue, prompting Mercedes to make a change mid-session as a precaution.

- George Russell missed the second half of FP2 at Silverstone due to a gearbox issue, with Williams set to investigate the problem overnight.

- Speaking in Friday's FIA press conference, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said the team would not stand in Fernando Alonso's way if another Formula 1 outfit would look to sign the Spaniard for 2020. Alonso still holds an ambassador role with McLaren, but is not set to be used for any future F1 outings or tests.

- Robert Kubica was asked if there was anything he had to do to allay fears among his fans that he could be replaced mid-season, despite Williams deputy chief Claire Williams saying on Thursday there were no such considerations. "Well I don’t have to reassure them," Kubica said. "They know that I am trying to do my best and probably you have to ask who spreads these rumours. Maybe they have better information than I do."

- The team continued its celebration of Frank Williams's 50 years as an F1 team boss by gifting a special bottle of beer with title partner ROKiT, emblazoned with his face on.

- FIA president Jean Todt held a press conference on Friday in which he said he would be happy to evaluate a return of refuelling to F1. "I am pushing for analysing what it would mean if we reintroduced refuelling,” Todt said, as quoted by Reuters. “Because if you reintroduce refuelling then you will have lighter cars at the start of the race and you can have smaller cars.”

- There was junior success in qualifying for both Formula 2 and Formula 3 on Friday. Renault youngster Guanyu Zhou picked up his maiden F2 pole, while Red Bull junior Juri Vips claimed top spot in F3 qualifying.

- Final F1 practice begins at 11am local time on Saturday at Silverstone.