F1 British GP live commentary and updates - FP1
Follow along for updates from Silverstone as F1 gets underway for British GP practice
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So, sprint qualifying gets under way at 4:30pm BST, giving teams three hours to crunch the data and tweak the set-up before going into the serious business. That's the added challenge of a sprint weekend, everything needs to be done at x3 the speed!
There will be some happy home fans after practice with Hamilton on top. He couldn't grab a record-extending 10th British GP win, could he?
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
One thing Verstappen cannot do before sprint qualifying is spend time playing our new game Two Seats. But you can!
Try it out here. Can you beat the 2012 Ferrari team with 1974 Ronnie Peterson and 1991 Ayrton Senna? Because I just did.
Verstappen cannot improve on his final lap flyer and stays in sixth place. Work to do for Red Bull and they do not have a lot of time to do it.
The chequered flag is out to signal the end of practice at the British GP. Hulkenberg has just enough time to sneak up to ninth, directly ahead of Lawson, while Bearman goes 14th for Haas.
Hamilton tops the session from Antonelli, Leclerc and Russell.
The FIA stewards also won't investigate that Hulkenberg and Lawson huff from earlier. Play on!
Verstappen is sawing at the wheel in his Red Bull through Village and The Loop and duly loses three-tenths of a second in the first sector of his first soft tyre push lap. The lap doesn't really improve from there as he goes sixth fastest and one second off Hamilton.
We were about to say that is quite a statement lap from Antonelli, until Hamilton goes faster with a 1m29.260s to go two-tenths of a second quicker. Ferrari vs Mercedes for pole?
Antonelli pops in a 1m29.473s to go nearly half a second faster than Russell at the top of the times. That pushes Leclerc into third and Piastri into fourth.
Verstappen's yellow flag incident was reviewed and there will be no further investigation.
Replays showed Verstappen going by Piastri after his spin and he may not have lifted fully going through the yellow flag zone. After review, #3 Red Bull, no penalty.
We've watched a lot of World Cup football this week, can you tell?
Hulkenberg and Lawson have also been noted for an incident at Village (Turn 3). The Audi driver was exiting the pits and refused to yield to Lawson, who was on a fast lap, who then backed out of his lap entirely.
"What the **** is that?" Lawson says over team radio.
They were basically racing.
Verstappen has been noted for a yellow flag infringement which occurred when Piastri spun off. We've not seen what he may or may not have done, but given all the controversy triggered by his crash and the single yellow flags in Austrian GP qualifying that is one to watch.
A lot of drivers switching to softs with 20 minutes to go in practice, but nobody is troubling the top lap times from earlier just yet.
Hamilton leads the times with a 1m30.521s from Antonelli - and both are up for the F1 driver of the month award in our new Monthly awards.
If you feel one of them deserves your vote, here's where to go.
Oscar Piastri spins off on "dead tyres" between Becketts and Chapel but keeps it out of the barrier and tip-toes back to the pits.
Although the grandstands aren’t quite full, it’s very busy here and we had a traffic jam getting in at 7.45am. Tried to cut up Giampiero Lambiase as the three lanes narrowed into one; “let’s test his resolve”, I said. Well, despite driving a considerably more expensive car (Porsche Panamera) he was demonstrably willing to trade paint with a Skoda to keep his nose ahead. Chapeau!
An onboard lap with Norris demonstrates the compromises drivers are having to make in the second sector. From Maggotts to Chapel there's a need to brake to recharge the battery in order to gain the juice for the sprint down the Hangar straight. But then there's simply not enough battery power to sustain acceleration on the entire straight so super clipping kicks in just before Stowe.
It's not the stuff of F1 car-thrashing, on the edge of your seat action, but it is a challenge for the drivers that the best will master.
The fastest lap is currently 5s off last year’s pole time, which indicates how much top speed has had to be sacrificed (via the harvesting limit) to reduce the amount of super clipping.
F1 championship leader Antonelli has pushed his Mercedes to the top of the times as most drivers call time on their opening runs in practice. The Italian's 1m30.777s gives him a two-tenth advantage over Hadjar.
A few drivers, including Antonelli, have run off-track at Village (Turn 3) as it appears the wind is pushing the cars on beyond the apex.
We are down by the pit entry/Vale, so arguably the biggest ‘conventional’ recharging spot on the track. The cars actually look much better through this area than the previous generation, which appeared leaden and reluctant to turn (and clonked over the kerbs with the elegance of a double decker bus).
Did you know it is the 100th anniversary of the British GP? That race, in a time before F1 was even F1, was held at Brooklands and was won by Robert Senechal and Louis Wagner in a Delage 15 S 8.
Encouraging early signs from both sides of the Red Bull garage as Hadjar moves to the top of the times with a 1m30.969s. They do have the most powerful engine after all and this is a power-sensitive circuit...
Did you know that the Norris grandstand accommodates almost as many people as the O2 Arena? 16,500 apparently.
If there's anyone who will want to disrupt the British party it'll be Max Verstappen as he fires his Red Bull to the top of the times with a 1m30.277s. In truth the times are being chipped away at gradually as the drivers gain confidence around Silverstone and the fuel loads drop over these first stints.
Hadjar and Hamilton trade timesheet-topping lap times as the TV director cuts to a baby waving at the cars on track. Start them young! Hamilton's 1m31.434s is the new benchmark.
Hamilton cycles to the top of the times with a 1m31.877s to raise a cheer from the home crowd.
The British driver is still on a high from his Spanish GP win last month, and if that was your moment of the month, then why not vote for it here in the new Best of the Month awards.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Verstappen has joined the fun so we have all 22 cars on the track. Antonelli leads the early running with a 1m32.579s and every driver is out on the C1 hard tyres for the first laps - probably telling that they don't think they'll need two sets of the hardest compound tyre in Pirelli's range this weekend.
Your eyes don't deceive you, that McLaren is green rather than its usual papaya. It is a tribute to Bruce McLaren's 1966 Monaco GP livery.
Bruce McLaren
Photo by: LAT Images via Getty Images
No surprise but there are many, many early takers in this single hour of practice. Hamilton leads out a 21-car train; only Max Verstappen is missing from the early running.
Practice is under way
Off we go!
Silverstone looks splendid, it must be said, with packed campsites and grandstands filled with fans.
Hamilton is eager to get things going as he sits in his Ferrari at pit exit waiting for the green light.
Sunny Silverstone
This clearly isn't the British GP, there is a 0% chance of rain for this session...
Conditions are dry, bright and sunny at Silverstone for practice with an air temperature of 21.6C and track temperature of 39.9C. Costa del Silverstone.
I ended up with 1967 Jackie Stewart and 2023 Kevin Magnussen. No chance. Oh well, always next time.
While we wait for practice to get going, why not fill the time with a game: Our team at Motorsport Network has produced an all-new game called Two Seats.
You're given a random team and two drivers from across F1 history and your task is to pick two drivers from a random pack to combine and beat them. Fancy it? Play here.
I've just been given the 1950 Alfa Romeo squad with Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio to beat. Good luck me.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz put forward his own talking point following the fallout from Austrian GP qualifying when Max Verstappen crashed and George Russell lifted enough under a single yellow flag to still grab pole. The Spaniard suggests that any driver who causes a yellow or red flag in qualifying should be given a three-place grid penalty regardless of how it occurred. We'd love to hear your thoughts on that one:
The main talk of the paddock is the expected return of everyone's favourite topic: energy management. Silverstone's high speeds and limited heavy braking means there's minimal chance to recharge the battery so drivers will have to nail their deployment strategy.
Almost all drivers were negative about that prospect, but Russell was one voice in favour of the challenge:
What a race weekend we have in store. Fresh off the back of an enthralling Austrian GP won by George Russell, he leads a total of five British hopefuls aiming to star at their home race.
Kimi Antonelli continues to lead the F1 world drivers' championship by 40 points from his Mercedes team-mate, but everything is to play for.
George Russell, Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Hello!
Good day one and all! Welcome to our live text coverage of British GP practice. It is a sprint weekend so this is the one and only practice session of the weekend and then we are straight into the serious business of sprint qualifying this afternoon.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
By: Haydn Cobb
