Verstappen tops first British Grand Prix practice

For the first time since 2019, fans were back at Silverstone for some action at the British Grand Prix.  The first practice session of the weekend brought the fans out in their thousands, and it was great to see the full grandstands once again.

The session was a quiet one, with next to no incidents happing on track meaning there was flat out action for an hour. 

It was Max Verstappen who came out on top, spoiling Lewis Hamilton’s home coming party. Not only was Verstappen the fastest but he beat second placed Lando Norris’ time by over seven-tenths of a second. The young Brit has had a tough week, after being mugged at the Euro’s 2020 final, so sitting in second will surely give him a boost. 

Hamilton was the third fastest with his Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team teammate Valtteri Bottas down in fifth. 

Scuderia Ferrari’s fast form continued with both drivers in the top six. Charles Leclerc was the one of top, coming fourth fastest. Carlos Sainz Jr. spun coming out of Farm Curve; that didn’t dampen his session, coming sixth overall. 

Sebastian Vettel finished the session in seventh place as Aston Martin make their home Grand Prix debut. The former champion hasn’t had the best of seasons so far and will be hoping to pull out a grand performance this weekend in front of a full crowd. His Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team teammate Lance Stroll didn’t have as great of a session, sitting lowly down in eighteenth.

Sergio Pérez and Daniel Ricciardo were the next fastest, coming eighth and ninth respectively. The pair haven’t performed like their respective teammates and that continued into the Silverstone weekend.

Rounding out the top ten was Esteban Ocon. Over the previous triple header, Ocon didn’t walk away with any points and will be hoping he can grab a few this weekend. His Alpine F1 Team teammate Fernando Alonso continues to be mediocre, coming home in fourteenth place. 

There wasn’t much between the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda duo of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda. They finished eleventh and twelfth, not as great as their most recent form. 

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN duo of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Räikkönen ended the session in thirteenth and fifteenth places.

George Russell didn’t have a great session in front of his home crowd, he suffered a crack in his left mirror after running over the curbs and after that struggled to set a competitive time, finishing at bottom of the pack in twentieth. His Williams Racing teammate Nicholas Latifi enjoyed his afternoon a little more, coming in sixteenth. 

Uralkali Haas F1 Team weren’t bottom of the pack, but they weren’t too far off. Mick Schumacher secured a time that put him seventeenth and Nikita Mazepin was nineteenth fastest. 

The usual Friday format sees some changes following the opening practice session as the teams face qualifying for the sprint race that takes place on Saturday. This session takes the place of the usual second practice.

Free Practice 1 Results