Hot weather catches drivers out.

While most people have welcomed the sudden hot and sunny weather in the recent days, the F1 teams that arrived at Silverstone in practice for the British Grand Prix were less than satisfied at the sudden change in temperatures.

With the British Grand Prix taking place a month earlier than usual, many had predicted that they would be greeted with cool conditions and possibly even rain, but instead cloudless skies and high temperatures made an appearance.

However, with the British summertime finally kicking in, it seems that the drivers were not quite prepared for the difference in the circuit compared with testing during April in far colder conditions.

With grip lacking and a stiff breeze affecting some of the higher speed corners, a number of drivers found themselves pointing the wrong way through the day, including Michael Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella, the Italian managing the second best time of the day despite only completing one flying lap.

"I didn't really get much of a feel for things today," Fisichella said. "I only did one timed lap, had a spin at Stowe, and then a problem that kept me in the garage for the rest of the session. We are not worried though. The problem will be fixed for tomorrow, and we have done a lot of testing here as well so we know the circuit. Obviously, conditions are quite different to what we saw in testing, but Fernando's work means we know the direction we need."

Schumacher too recovered from a leery moment on the way to managing the fifth and eighth quickest times in both of the sessions but the German was content with his progress over the 17 laps he completed.

"At the moment it is very tricky as the track is still very slippery. That's why so many, me included, went off track. We have to look carefully at the data to understand the situation, taking into account the wind, which also played its part today."

Christian Klien was another driver to find himself having to contend with the change in conditions, claiming the high-winds forced him to spin and as a result lose a set of tyres on the way to a lowly 23rd fastest.

"It's very windy out on the track today so it was difficult to drive," the Austrian said. "The wind had a big effect on the car through the high-speed corners and we struggled with down-force. As a result, I spun in one corner and damaged one of my tyres. That meant I had to use a second set today, so I've now lost a set for the weekend.

"In the second run, we improved the car balance a little, but it was still difficult to drive. You couldn't really work on the set-up that much because tomorrow there might be no wind, so it up would all be different all over again - but no wind will definitely mean better balance."

With high temperatures that are set to rival those from the Bahrain Grand Prix, the British Grand Prix promises to be hot and if the drivers are unable to adapt to the unfamiliar temperatures then the race could well be similarly scorching."