FP1: Hamilton sets the pace from Norris and Piastri during first practice at Silverstone

Lewis Hamilton has kicked off his home event by leading the way in Free Practice 1 at the British Grand Prix.

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Lewis Hamilton has topped the timesheets during Friday’s first practice session at the British Grand Prix, the seven-time World Champion leading the way from fellow Briton Lando Norris at his home event.

There were two new names joining the action for FP1 at Silverstone; 17-year-old Arvid Lindblad had stepped in to Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull for his F1 weekend debut, while Alpine Reserve Driver Paul Aron was at the wheel of Nico Hulkenberg’s Kick Sauber, the rival teams having come to an agreement to share the 21-year-old’s driving services.

Haas’ Esteban Ocon led the pack out in a busy start to the session, the majority of the field running the medium tyres while the Aston Martin and Williams cars had bolted on the hard compound.

Liam Lawson, meanwhile, made an early complaint about traffic, the Racing Bulls man – whose car is running a special livery this weekend – saying “guy needs to check his mirrors” after encountering Lindblad on track.

The opening segment of FP1 saw several home favourites top the timesheets, with Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris each going fastest before George Russell set the quickest time to head the timesheets.

Practice 1 results

FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS BRITISH GRAND PRIX 2025

Pos.DriverTime
1Lewis HamiltonHAM1:26.892
2Lando NorrisNOR+0.023s
3Oscar PiastriPIA+0.150s
4Charles LeclercLEC+0.203s
5George RussellRUS+0.271s
View all standings

Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, completed a 360-degree spin at Copse corner. The Alpine driver managed to continue running, albeit with some significant flat spots on his tyres.

Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar had set the pace from Charles Leclerc as the session reached its halfway point, just as others started to switch to the soft tyres for some flying laps. Elsewhere there was trouble for Carlos Sainz, with the Williams up on the stands in the garage as the team seemingly checked the floor.

The order quickly started to evolve as most of the pack started to embark on their soft-shod runs, with the times rapidly tumbling, while traffic increasingly became an issue. Meanwhile Gabriel Bortoleto became the next driver to spin around at Copse, the Kick Sauber briefly triggering the yellow flags before continuing on.

As the session entered into its final 20 minutes, Norris had returned to the top of the order – only for Hamilton to surge through to displace his fellow Briton by two-hundredths, the Ferrari driver setting the pace on a 1m 26.892s.

NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - JULY 04: Arvid Lindblad of Great Britain and Oracle Red Bull Racing talksLindblad made his FP1 debut for Red Bull at his home event

While more laps went on the board – and Sainz rejoined the pack slightly out of sequence on the hard tyres before later switching to the soft rubber – Hamilton’s benchmark ultimately remained unbeaten on a track where the 40-year-old has won a record nine times.

Norris remained in second, with the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri going third quickest while Leclerc placed in fourth. Russell followed in fifth for Mercedes ahead of Hadjar, Williams’ Alex Albon, Lawson and the other Silver Arrows car of Kimi Antonelli.

Max Verstappen rounded out the top 10 on a weekend in which the Red Bull driver has continued to face speculation over his future. The Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll claimed P11 and P12 from Lindblad (P13), Sainz (P14) and Ocon (P15).

Meanwhile Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Aron, Haas’ Ollie Bearman, Gasly and Bortoleto completed the order from 16th to 20th respectively.

With the first hour of running now complete, the drivers and teams will examine their data and prepare for Friday’s second practice session, which is set to get underway at 1600 local time.