On a beautiful sunny day at the Silverstone circuit, the home hero Lewis Hamilton tops the times in FP1. The only practice session didn’t see a lot of drama but it was a delight to behold the enormous amount of fans at the track, including the Landostand which should really be called the Lando stadium.
Lights go green for the only free practice
All drivers and teams were quick to emerge from the pits when the lights turned green. Teams were urgently trying to gather as much data as possible for the busy weekend ahead. All cars used hard tyres for some longer runs at the start of the session.
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McLaren upgrades looking for more speed
McLaren entered their home grand prix with a series of upgrades including a new floor for better airflow and a new front brake duct. They decided not to bring their new rotating wing to Silverstone. Lando Norris found the car tricky to handle as he ran wide in turn 3 within the first 10 minutes of the session. Their new livery may look lovely however, it was clear the car was behind in terms of time.
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Red Bull looking strong at the start
Red Bull looked really good at the start of the session. Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen swapped lead times numerous times within the first 20 mins of the session. Hadjar put in a great 1.30.969 on hards at the 15 minute mark.
Landostand electric
As the action on track was calm, we got to see the new Landostand. It can only be described as a stadium or arena with over 16,000 fans dressed in fluro. It was great to see a mixture of fans in the epic stowe corner. However, Lando found the handling of car tricky running wide again. With 25 minutes to go in the session, Oscar Piastri went off at Chapel but managed to save it from the wall.
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Alpine struggle as Audi look the best of the midfield
Alpine have been doing well recently, however they had a tough FP1 in Silverstone. Overall pace wasn’t great with Pierre Gasly finishing the session in 21st and Colapinto redeeming them with putting a decent lap to finish 11th. Audi looked the strongest of the midfield last years podium sitter Nico Hulkenberg finished in 9th Gabriel Bortoletto ended in 12th.
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Antonelli vs Hamilton
It was a case of the apprentice vs the master in the last few minutes of FP1. Kimi Antonelli put in a stellar lap 1.29.473 which left Jenson Button almost speechless. However, the master of Silverstone Lewis Hamilton showed everyone who rules by ending the session on top with a 1.29.260.