Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris thrilled the Silverstone crowd with a British one-two finish in the opening practice session for the F1 British Grand Prix.
Hamilton, driving for Ferrari, posted a blistering 1:26.892 to lead McLaren’s Norris by just 0.023 seconds, with teammate Oscar Piastri taking third, 0.150 seconds back.
The session buzzed with excitement as teams unveiled new liveries, softer Pirelli C6 tyres, and fresh faces.
Arvid Lindblad debuted for Red Bull, replacing Yuki Tsunoda, while Paul Aron drove for Sauber, on loan from Alpine for two FP1 sessions.
Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto set an early 1:32.7 benchmark.
McLaren’s Norris initially led with a 1:28.6, half a second ahead of Hamilton, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, testing upgrades, slotted into third.
Drama unfolded as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly spun at Stowe, radioing, “Absolutely lost it.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, running a new floor, struggled with handling, saying, “It just doesn’t turn at low speed and then in high speed, it’s either big snaps or piles of oversteer.”
Mid-session, Mercedes’ George Russell and Kimi Antonelli briefly topped the times, only for Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to take over.
Leclerc’s 1:27.0 put him 0.2 seconds ahead of Piastri, but Hamilton’s late soft-tyre run saw him snatch P1 with a 1:26.8, despite traffic, as his race engineer Riccardo Adami said, “It was a good lap up to there.”
Williams, focusing on race simulations, struggled, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon at the bottom after Sainz’s floor-damaging moment at Copse.
Sauber’s Aron, impeding Albon in traffic, apologised, saying, “My bad, there’s a big mess here.” Bortoleto’s spin at Copse left him last, the only driver without a soft-tyre run.
Red Bull’s Lindblad shone in his debut, finishing 14th, 0.5 seconds off Verstappen, who climbed to 10th. Aron outpaced Bortoleto in 17th for Sauber, while Ferrari and McLaren dominated up front.
In the final stint, teams switched to race simulations, with Hamilton sealing his session by overtaking Russell into Stowe. The stage is set for a thrilling British Grand Prix weekend, with Ferrari and McLaren ready to battle over 52 laps of the 5.891-kilometre Silverstone Circuit on Sunday.
FP1 Results at the British Grand Prix:
1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:26.892
2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.023
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.150
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.203
5 George Russell Mercedes +0.271
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.325
7 Alexander Albon Williams +0.412
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +0.459
9 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.475
10 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.540
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.786
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.952
13 Carlos Sainz Williams +1.017
14 Arvid Lindblad Red Bull Racing +1.066
15 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +1.165
16 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1.194
17 Paul Aron Kick Sauber +1.250
18 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team +1.255
19 Pierre Gasly Alpin +1.440
20 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber +1.505
