2024 British Grand Prix – Recap of Friday’s Running

Friday saw the first two hours of Free Practice for the 2024 British Grand Prix, with the teams preparing for what will be another close weekend up and down the paddock.

McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris topped both sessions, beginning his home Grand Prix in good form. It was a mixed day for the other Briton’s in the paddock, George Russell was fifth in Free Practice One, but could only manage tenth in the second session, while Lewis Hamilton was outside the top five in both sessions.

It was an encouraging day for McLaren, as they seem quicker than Oracle Red Bull Racing, although Max Verstappen didn’t make the most of his qualifying simulation during Free Practice Two and ended up behind Sergio Pérez.

Free Practice One – Norris tops, bad start for Tsunoda

Norris set the fastest lap in Free Practice One for his home Grand Prix, with Lance Stroll and teammate Oscar Piastri following closely behind.

Russell was the first car on the track, fresh off the back of his 2024 Austrian Grand Prix victory that will certainly inject some confidence into both Russell and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team for this weekend’s race. All eyes were on the rookies selected for Free Practice One, with four teams choosing to put them into their cars. Ollie Bearman took part in his first Free Practice session since it was revealed he would be on the Formula 1 grid in 2025, while Red Bull ran Isack Hadjar in place of Pérez, Franco Colapinto replaced Logan Sargeant for Williams Racing and Jack Doohan stood in for Pierre Gasly, who will be starting from the back of the grid on race day due to engine penalties, for BWT Alpine F1 Team.

Just ten minutes into the session, Yuki Tsunoda spun and got stuck in the gravel at Luffield, bringing out the red flags so that the Marshalls could recover his VCARB 01. With 44 minutes left, the green flag waved and the drivers wasted no time, getting back on track to make up for lost time with another tightly contested weekend anticipated.

Photo: McLaren Media Centre

Light ran began to fall in the closing stages of the hour, but for Piastri, the British weather conditions weren’t the concern. The Australian driver reported a possible hydraulic issue and nursed his McLaren back to the pits at a slow pace. Meanwhile, things were looking up for his teammate Norris. The British driver put in an excellent lap of 1:27.420 on the soft tyres, grabbing top spot. This placed him a comfortable 0.134 seconds ahead of Stroll for Aston Martin Armaco F1 Team. Despite his troubles, Piastri managed to hold onto third place.

Red Bull’s Verstappen finished fourth, while the Mercedes duo of Russell and Hamilton claimed fifth and seventh respectively. Fernando Alonso slotted into sixth for Aston Martin. Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. followed in eighth and ninth, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon rounding out the top 10.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hülkenberg took eleventh, ahead of Valtteri Bottas for Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber. Daniel Ricciardo, Bearman, and Zhou Guanyu filled out the next positions followed in twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth respectively.

Williams’ Alex Albon came in sixteenth, with Doohan in seventeenth after facing technical issues. Colapinto took eighteenth, just ahead of Hadjar who had a near miss with Norris. Tsunoda remained in last after his earlier excursion in the gravel.

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:27.420		26
2	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	1:27.554	+0.134s	22
3	81	Oscar Piastri	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:27.631	+0.211s	18
4	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	1:27.729	+0.309s	25
5	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	1:27.738	+0.318s	26
6	14	Fernando Alonso	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	1:27.794	+0.374s	27
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:27.858	+0.438s	26
8	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:27.903	+0.483s	26
9	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:27.925	+0.505s	27
10	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:27.974	+0.554s	24
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	HAAS FERRARI	1:28.082	+0.662s	22
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	1:28.254	+0.834s	26
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB HONDA RBPT	1:28.477	+1.057s	24
14	50	Oliver Bearman*	HAAS FERRARI	1:28.536	+1.116s	25
15	24	Zhou Guanyu	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	1:28.590	+1.170s	24
16	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:28.649	+1.229s	25
17	61	Jack Doohan*	ALPINE RENAULT	1:28.735	+1.315s	22
18	45	Franco Colapinto*	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:29.078	+1.658s	24
19	37	Isack Hadjar*	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	1:29.270	+1.850s	15
20	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB HONDA RBPT	1:29.864	+2.444s	5

*Oliver Bearman, Jack Doohan, Franco Colapinto and Isack Hadjar are all rookies taking part in Free Practice One sessions – the teams have to fulfil two of these a season.

Free Practice Two – Norris continues to dominate, mixed conditions at Silverstone

After topping the first session of the weekend, Norris continued to set the pace at his home Grand Prix, as he searches for his second race win in Formula 1.

Following a number of race simulations for each team, focus switched to soft compound qualifying runs. Visa Cash App RB’s Ricciardo received a heads-up from his race engineer about incoming rain, as did many drivers. Despite the looming wet weather, many drivers, including Norris and Piastri, continued hammering out their qualifying simulations as planned.

The rain did indeed materialize in the closing minutes, but not enough to disrupt Norris’ dominance at Silverstone so far. He held onto his first place position as the chequered flag waved, leading the pack by a comfortable margin of 0.331 seconds over his teammate Piastri.

Red Bull showcased some strong potential with Perez taking the third-fastest lap, followed closely by Haas’ Hulkenberg in an impressive fourth-place showing. The American team are closing in on RB for sixth in the Constructors Championship. Leclerc and Hamilton locked down fifth and sixth positions for Ferrari and Mercedes, respectively.

Photo: Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

Verstappen secured seventh, while Sainz followed in eighth and Lance Stroll claimed ninth, a rather disappointing showing after finishing second in Free Practice One. Rounding out the top 10 was Russell in the Mercedes. Alonso narrowly missed out on a top-10 finish in eleventh, as did Bottas in the Sauber who came in twelfth after all the running was done. Despite missing out on the top-10, it was much better showing for Bottas and Sauber as they still look to get off the mark in the Championship.

Williams’ Albon sported a special Union Jack livery for the home race and secured a respectable thirteenth. Behind him, the Alpine duo of Gasly and Ocon took fourteenth and fifteenth respectively.

Having recovered from his earlier gravel incident in Free Practice One, Tsunoda managed to get some crucial running in for RB and secured sixteenth. The rest of the field saw Logan Sargeant, Zhou Guanyu, Ricciardo back in the other RB, and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the timesheets in the Haas.

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:26.549		26
2	81	Oscar Piastri	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:26.880	+0.331s	24
3	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	1:26.983	+0.434s	25
4	27	Nico Hulkenberg	HAAS FERRARI	1:26.990	+0.441s	26
5	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:27.150	+0.601s	27
6	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:27.202	+0.653s	26
7	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	1:27.233	+0.684s	21
8	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:27.249	+0.700s	31
9	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	1:27.274	+0.725s	21
10	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	1:27.294	+0.745s	26
11	14	Fernando Alonso	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	1:27.372	+0.823s	25
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	1:27.381	+0.832s	16
13	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:27.645	+1.096s	26
14	10	Pierre Gasly*	ALPINE RENAULT	1:27.732	+1.183s	24
15	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:27.743	+1.194s	19
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB HONDA RBPT	1:27.745	+1.196s	26
17	2	Logan Sargeant	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:27.809	+1.260s	24
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	1:27.813	+1.264s	19
19	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB HONDA RBPT	1:27.916	+1.367s	25
20	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:28.122	+1.573s	20

*Gasly will take penalties for engine components and start from the back of the grid.