FP1: Hamilton delivers faultless lap to lead opening session on home soil

Nine-time British Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton put in a great effort to top the opening one-hour session at the Silverstone circuit. F1Technical’s senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on Free Practice 1 at Silverstone.

Having failed to put together a good lap on Pirelli’s soft tyres, Ferrari’s seven-time Lewis Hamilton delivered a 1m26.892s on his third flying lap on the C4 tyres to end up quickest in the opening one-hour session at the British Grand Prix.

His fellow countryman Lando Norris was only 23 thousands of a second slowed which was enough for P2 while championship leader Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Monegasque driver, Charles Leclerc took third and fourth respectively.

Having posted strong laps early on, Mercedes driver George Russell followed in fifth for Mercedes ahead of Isack Hadjar, Williams’ Alex Albon, Liam Lawson.

Having caused a collision at Spielberg last Sunday, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will serve a three-place grid penalty at Silverstone. The Italian was two tenths of a second slower than his team-mate Russell which saw him end up ninth fastest.

Max Verstappen complained about his car during the session as he rounded out the top 10. His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda sat out the opening one-hour session, with Arvid Lindblad having piloted his RB21. The British driver took 14th, only half a second adrift of Verstappen.

The Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll claimed P11 and P12, while Carlos Sainz ended up 14th quickest after spending a big chunk of the session in his garage.

Having collected points at Spielberg, Haas driver Esteban Ocon took only 15th while his team-mate Oliver Bearman, who is completing his first British Grand Prix weekend, ended up a further three places behind.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto ended up P16 while Paul Aron, who substituted for Nico Hulkenberg, racked up a total of 25 laps, set the 17th quikckest lap,. On the back of a tough Austrian Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly was 19th quickest while Gabriel Bortoleto, who collected his first F1 points last time out at Spielberg, completed the order in P20.

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