Hamilton tops opening British GP practice

Lewis Hamilton headed Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri with the fastest time in first practice at the British Grand Prix.

Hamilton, in his first grand prix appearance for Ferrari at home, set the weekend’s first benchmark at 1m26.892s. The Briton used a set of soft tire to edge out Norris, winner last weekend in Austria, by just 0.023s. Piastri followed in the second McLaren 0.127s further back.

McLaren brought another round of upgrades to its already imposing MCL39 – this weekend colored mostly chrome – in time for first practice, but in mild Silverstone conditions, with the track surface 105 degrees F and the ambient temperature 75 degrees F, its worth is so far unclear.

More Formula 1

McNish takes on Audi F1 racing director role

Turkish Grand Prix to return to F1 calendar in 2027

Brown says Horner F1 return would be a positive, more A-B teams not so much

Charles Leclerc was fourth and 0.203s off his teammate’s pace, looking less assured on the soft compound – this year a step softer than in 2024 – for his fastest lap, while George Russell was fifth and 0.271s off the pace for Mercedes.

Isack Hadjar was a surprise sixth in a strong start to the weekend for Racing Bulls. Hadjar and teammate Liam Lawson, who was eighth at the end of the session, were the fastest drivers on track in the first 15 minutes, and the Frenchman remained with 0.325s until the end of the hour.

Hadjar and Lawson sandwiched Alex Albon into P7 for Williams, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli followed in ninth.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen slumped to 10th and 0.54s off the pace. The Dutchman complained early in the hour of understeer through the slow-speed corners but snappy oversteer through the high-speed bends.

Fernando Alonso in 11th was 0.166s quicker than teammate Lance Stroll in 11th and 12rh, though the Spaniard was the only one of the two equipped with Aston Martin’s new upgrade package as part of a comparison test with his teammate. Both cars will run in upgraded specification later today.

Carlos Sainz was 13th in the second Williams car after having run wide over the Copse curbs early in the hour and having appeared to have required repairs to his floor, though the team later said there was no damage to report.

Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad deputized for Yuki Tsunoda for his first scheduled FP1 with Red Bull Racing. Currently sixth in this year’s Formula 2 championship with a pair of victories, the highly rated 17-year-old was 14th and 1.066s off the pace.

Esteban Ocon was 15th despite reporting his brake pedal breaking, requiring an unscheduled visit to pit lane, ahead of Franco Colapinto in 16th.

Alpine junior Paul Aron took control of Nico Hulkenerg’s Sauber for one of two FP1 sessions with the future Audi team before the mid-season break, having secured a temporary loan to rack up more mileage. The 21-year-old Estonian was 1.25s off the pace in 16th.

Oliver Bearman was 18th ahead of Pierre Gasly, who committed a 360-degree spin out of Copse early in the hour, and Gabriel Bortoleto, who went one better by spinning several times out of the same turn.