Nine-time Silverstone winner Lewis Hamilton went fastest overall in the first one-hour practice session in Formula 1 of the British Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver had his fastest lap in a practice session for this season with a 1:26.892 lap time, ahead of the two McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
The windy conditions caused many drivers to struggle as they navigated the circuit. However, the session was a clean one with no major crashes or hold-ups. Read on for the big talking points of Free Practice 1.
A Debut for Lindblad and Aron
While we are used to our usual array of British drivers on the track, Red Bull featured their own in F2 Campos Racing driver Arvid Lindblad. The 17-year-old made his debut in F1, learning a lot as he drove Yuki Tsunoda’s RB21. He had a minor issue that caused traffic, which frustrated Liam Lawson in the first ten minutes. With his rapid advancement from F3 to F2 and his approved super licence by the FIA, we expect to see many more appearances in the future for Lindblad in F1.
Another making his Free Practice debut was Alpine Reserve Driver Paul Aron. The 21-year-old Estonian was sitting in the Kick Sauber C45 of Nico Hulkenberg. Aron was one of the first out of the pits when the session began, following behind Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, and Alex Albon. Aron later found himself in the way of the Williams’ driver, immediately taking responsibility.
Testing Out Tyres and Upgrades
The majority of the constructors sent their drivers out on mediums in their opening push laps of the session. The only two teams to initially opt for the hard tyres were Williams and Aston Martin. If the weather remains dry over the weekend, the data gained in today’s sessions will help determine strategies for qualifying and the feature race. However, this is Silverstone, and rain is always just on the horizon.
With nearly thirty minutes logged, the soft compound tyres went on both Red Bull cars and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. By the halfway point, almost the entire grid had switched to the soft tyres to set flying laps. The tip from commentators suggested that the medium tyre should be just as fast at Silverstone.
Several upgrades were made to specific cars on the grid that were also being tested. Fernando Alonso had the newer model, while Lance Stroll ran in the older setup to give the engineers a decent comparison to correlate with the wind tunnel results. Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was also driving with a brand-new floor.
Both Haas cars had upgrades to test and try to improve their pace in qualifying for tomorrow. However, Ocon came onto the radio to complain about his brake pedal cracking. Another embattled team, Williams, sacrificed performance laps for simulation to gather data and resolve the overheating issues they’ve had with the power unit lately.
Spins in the Wind
Gasly took a 360-degree turn into Copse, one of the highest-speed corners at Silverstone. The Alpine driver managed to come out with only damage incurred to his tyres. The windy conditions on the track also sent Stroll for a minor turn not long after.
Sainz was pushed extremely wide into Copse by the gusts, sending sparks flying from the Williams’ car floor. Verstappen radioed into his team complaining that his car would not turn. His problems could have been a combination of the track conditions, the floor issues, and the soft compound tyre.
Copse corner claimed another spin victim in Gabriel Bortoleto, causing the yellow flags to appear briefly, but the Brazilian managed to return to the track and come back on track to the pit.
The Final Ten Minutes
Sainz tested out a pit stop, while Ocon’s “brake pedal” issue looked more likely to be an issue with the electronics, particularly the transponder. Hamilton continued to set push lap after push lap, keeping just a couple hundredths of a second in front of Norris.
Alonso had his first struggle with the wind, causing him to veer slightly off track. He finished just outside the top ten at the end of the session. Traffic became the central issue in the final few minutes, with Isack Hadjar complaining about Gasly and Hamilton avoiding his former teammate, George Russell. The Mercedes driver made a quick observation on the Ferrari’s tyres as something to look for later in the weekend.
Coming off his third win of the year at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, Norris has a fire lit underneath to do more than win his home race. He is also trailing behind his McLaren teammate in the Driver’s World Championship by 15 points. Can Piastri hang on to his lead, or will Norris finally progress to the top spot?
Let’s not count out Lewis Hamilton. While the Ferrari hasn’t been as optimal in performance compared to the McLaren, Hamilton holds the record for the most wins at Silverstone (9 in total). His win count includes last year’s final hurrah with Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS. It’s still too early in the weekend to call, but we’ll be watching to see the progress of all the teams and drivers until crunch time on Sunday.