Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was fastest in F1 British GP FP1 from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll.
The fastest soft compound helped Verstappen to lead the FP1 session in F1 British GP at Silverstone with a 1m27.422s lap from Mercedes’ Hamilton (1m27.896s) and Racing Point’s Stroll (1m28.004s) – both of whom set their time on the medium compound.
It wasn’t a straight smooth session for Verstappen, though, as he radioed multiple times for changes as Red Bull is testing new upgrades. Even Hamilton had some scrappy moments with a new MGU-K being fitted as a precaution after Mercedes found some gremlins.
The other Red Bull of Alexander Albon (1m28.129s) slotted in fourth with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1m28.221s) fifth, where the former set his time on the soft compound with new race engineer Simon Rennie in his ears, while the latter had his on the medium.
Leclerc’s teammate Sebastian Vettel did not run at all after installation lap as Ferrari found an intercooler issue, for which they had to strip down the car. With no Sergio Perez and McLaren slightly off, the Renault duo were seventh and eighth then.
Esteban Ocon (1m28.559s) was ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo (1m28.575s) as the returning Nico Hulkenberg (1m28.592s) in the Racing Point did well to be ninth – the trio using the medium compound – with AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat (1m28.868s) rounding the Top 10.
He was followed by teammate Pierre Gasly (1m28.909s) with McLaren duo Carlos Sainz (1m28.988s) and Lando Norris (1m28.990s) in 12th and 13th, followed by the Haas duo Kevin Magnussen (1m29.532s) and Romain Grosjean (1m29.576s), where all the six set their times on soft compound.
It wasn’t straightforward session for Norris and Sainz, though, as both had their moments, as Williams’ George Russell (1m29.899s) continued the fine work in 17th sandwiching the struggling Alfa Romeo Racing drivers – trio setting their best on medium compound.
Kimi Raikkonen (1m29.746s) was 16th with Antonio Giovinazzi (1m29.925s) 18th but both had offs at different corners, with the former bringing out the red flag due to leaving debris on track via his shredded tyres. He is also under investigation for dangerous driving as Williams’ Nicholas Latifi (1m30.703s) rounded out the standings in 19th.
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