Morbidelli: I saw a wall of water

Franco Morbidelli, whose tumbling bike caused Tito Rabat's multiple leg fractures in FP4 at Silverstone, has described the treacherous conditions faced at the end of the Hangar Straight as 'hell'.

Morbidelli was one of three riders to aquaplane off in quick succession heading into Stowe corner, as the new Silverstone surface struggled to drain water from a heavy shower over part of the circuit. Other riders ran off track.

"The rest of the track was almost dry, but when we reached there it was hell. Then I just lost the front," Morbidelli said.

"There were flags in the spot [where other riders had fallen] but I didn’t see anything before I got there."

While Morbidelli was "okay", his bike then hit Rabat in the gravel trap. The session was red-flagged.

With much heavier rain forecast for race day, the start time has been moved from 1pm to 11:30am to try and avoid the worst of the rain.

"If it's like FP4 it's pretty dangerous. So we have to see the conditions in Turns 7 and 8 because with the amount of water that was there this afternoon it's not possible [to race]," said the Marc VDS Honda rider.

"Because we had rain tyres and I did see the wall of water [ahead] and I tried to slow down arriving there, but there wasn't a way to control the bike at all."

Morbidelli, who will join the new Sepang Yamaha team next season, went on to qualify in 13^th place on a drying track.