Official F1 Journal Formula 1 Friday Round Up - British GP

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McLaren showed their pace in the first two Free Practice sessions, with Lando Norris topping the timesheet for both sessions at Silverstone.

Four F2 drivers participated in FP1 as part of the scheduled sessions, ​with Jack Doohan (Alpine for Pierre Gasly), Oliver Beaman (Haas for Magnussen), Isack Hadjar (Red Bull for Sergio Perez) and Franco Colapinto (Williams for Logan Sargeant all taking to the track.

Rain arrived during the last six minutes of FP2 in standard British style, with some drivers opting to test out the intermediate tyres in preparation for the chance of rain over the weekend.

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Free Practice 1

Top 10 Results
1) Lando Norris              1'27.420
2) Lance Stroll                +0.134
3) Oscar Piastri              +0.211
4) Max Verstappen         +0.309
5) George Russell          +0.318
6) Fernando Alonso        +0.374
7) Lewis Hamilton           +0.438
8) Charles Leclerc          +0.483
9) Carlos Sainz               +0.505
10) Esteban Ocon           +0.554

Lando Norris and his McLaren topped the timesheet for Free Practice One at Silverstone after starting on the hard tyre, running long before moving onto medium tyres and then softs.

At the beginning of the session, Lando's teammate Oscar Piastri was running the new-spec front wing and undertaking aero testing using rakes, with Lando using the old front wing to provide a comparison. Oscar's luck ran out during the last part of the session after he had a fuel cell issue and came to a stop at the pit lane entrance.

Both Mercedes and Ferraris ran long on both the medium and hard tyres. Yuki Tsunoda had a quick spin and briefly brought out the red flag early in the session after he ended up beached in the gravel at Luffield.

Jack Doohan (Alpine for Pierre Gasly), Oliver Beaman (Haas for Magnussen), Isack Hadjar (Red Bull for Sergio Perez) and Franco Colapinto (Williams for Logan Sargeant).

After the session, the Stewards investigated two incidents: Hadjar getting in the way of Norris and an investigation into Stroll impeding Leclerc at Maggotts. Hadjar and Stroll were both given formal warnings and fines for their teams - Red Bull (20,000EUR) and Aston Martin (15,000EUR).​

© Scuderia Ferrari

Free Practice 2

Top 10 Results
1) Lando Norris                1'26.549
2) Oscar Piastri                 +0.331
3) Sergio Perez                 +0.434
4) Nico Hulkenberg           +0.441
5) Charles Leclerc             +0.601
6) Lewis Hamilton              +0.653
7) Max Verstappen            +0.684
8) Carlos Sainz                 +0.700
9) Lance Stroll                   +0.725
10) George Russell           +0.745

Rain threatened Free Practice Two with early warning signs that the rain would start before the end of the session, and the predictions were correct.

A 60% chance of rain late in the session altered the teams' running strategies. Many teams opted to start on the hard tyres, then soft tyres, and back to medium and hard tyres for the end of the session. Everyone headed out to the track as soon as the session started to make the most of the time.

Verstappen was the first to change onto soft tyres 15 minutes into the session, with many drivers following shortly behind. With his early switch to softs, Verstappen topped the table for the first part of the session with a 1'27.233 lap time, followed by Leclerc, Hamilton, Sainz, and Norris, rounding out the top five.

Norris set his fastest lap during the second part of the session before the rain started, with just over six minutes and 40 seconds left in the session. With the rain, many drivers opted to stay in the pits, but some, including Norris, Sainz, and Perez, opted to do some laps with intermediate tyres in the rain.

© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at the F1 Journal

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