Formula 1: Silverstone FP1 Highlights – Lewis Hamilton Takes the Lead
Friday, [Date]
Good afternoon and welcome to Autosport’s live text coverage from a rather grey and overcast Silverstone, the iconic venue that hosted Formula 1 for the first time back in 1950, in the very first world championship event. As we await the start of first practice, Formula 1 fans are eagerly anticipating a thrilling weekend of racing.
We’re a little under 20 minutes away from the start of FP1, and all eyes will be on Max Verstappen, who’s seeking to secure back-to-back British GP wins. To achieve this, his Red Bull team will need to ensure their floor updates perform well. You can read about those updates here. Meanwhile, Ferrari doesn’t have new parts at Silverstone, but hopes a return to a more conventional weekend format will help the team better understand the upgrades introduced in Spain that haven’t brought the desired improvement. Here’s more on that.
Plenty has happened in Formula 1 over the past week, not least the recriminations over the contact between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris last week at the Red Bull Ring. Norris has since back-tracked on his demand for an apology from the Red Bull rival, while the Dutchman has doubled down on his disinterest in criticism, stating his only priority is maintaining his friendship with the McLaren driver. Will Silverstone bring the latest instalment in a battle that has become ever more intense in recent weeks?
As the lights go green, the session is underway, with Bearman – fresh from the confirmation he will race for Haas next year – among the first flood of drivers to exit the pits on hard tyres. Colapinto isn’t the only rookie lined up for FP1. Jack Doohan gets his latest go at the wheel of an Alpine, in for Pierre Gasly, Isack Hadjar takes over Sergio Perez’s Red Bull, and Oliver Bearman assumes the wheel of the Haas usually driven by Kevin Magnussen.
“The risk of rain for this session is 30%, the timing screens tell us.”
Franco Colapinto ended in the gravel at Vale. The Argentine will be hoping to avoid an embarrassing repeat of that today as he steps into a Williams for his first official Formula 1 practice session.
Verstappen sets a benchmark time of 1m29.906s on the hard tyre, putting him 1.2s up on Alonso and Leclerc. However, Hamilton lowers the benchmark further to 1m29.035s, putting an eight-tenth gap between himself and Tsunoda. Tsunoda then slips in ahead of Verstappen by 0.042s with a new benchmark time of 1m29.864s.
Red flag. Yuki Tsunoda is in the gravel and firmly beached at Luffield. Before the red, Russell slotted into the top spot with a new best time of 1m28.888s, with Verstappen moving into third behind Hamilton. With the session back underway, Russell remains fastest on a 1m28.156s, 0.214s quicker than Verstappen.
Piastri moves into fourth, ahead of Leclerc, while Sainz shoves Bearman down to seventh. Hamilton now moves into the top spot, elbowing past his team-mate by the scant margin of 0.003s.
As the session comes to a close, Verstappen improves to go 0.009s behind Russell, before Piastri blasts to the top of the leaderboard on a 1m27.631s on the soft, 0.098s ahead of Verstappen. Now Verstappen lowers his benchmark slightly to a 1m27.729s. His team-mate for this session, Hadjar, returns to the track after a lengthy stint in the garage, but he remains on the hard.
Leclerc is 0.139s down in third, while Sainz was unable to improve last time around on his first lap with mediums. The latest drivers to use softs are Hulkenberg and Ocon, which explains their sudden presence in the top eight, above Bottas.
It’s worth pointing out that time from Verstappen was set on the mediums. It proves fractionally quicker than the first efforts of Russell and Leclerc on the same compound too, with the Mercedes man just 0.010s shy. As Bottas goes again on his softs, moving up to fifth, Verstappen logs a new fastest time of 1m27.764s to dislodge Sainz from the top spot.
Stay tuned for more updates from the Silverstone circuit as the Formula 1 weekend unfolds!
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