FP1: Norris goes fastest from Stroll and Piastri during first practice at Silverstone

Lando Norris set the pace in front of his home fans during the first practice session of the British Grand Prix weekend, with the McLaren driver leading the way from Lance Stroll and Oscar Piastri.

Off the back of his victory last time out in Austria, George Russell led several cars out as FP1 got under way in dry conditions, while some ominous dark clouds lingered on a day with a forecasted 60% chance of rain.

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Also early on the track was Oliver Bearman, participating in his third free practice hour of the season with Haas following the news that he will join the squad on the grid for 2025. The Briton was joined by fellow F2 drivers Isack Hadjar and Franco Colapinto – behind the wheel for Red Bull and Williams respectively – along with Alpine junior Jack Doohan.

Just as Russell set an initial benchmark of 1m 28.888s, there was trouble 10 minutes into the session when Yuki Tsunoda beached his RB in the gravel at Luffield, resulting in the red flags being thrown to allow for the stricken VCARB 01 to be recovered.

The action resumed with 44 minutes remaining on the clock, and more laps times soon went on the board as many drivers were keen to get back to their programmes.

It was Carlos Sainz – the man who remains at the centre of driver market talk for 2025 – who had slotted himself into P1 on the timesheets as the session reached its halfway point, going fastest on a lap of 1m 27.925s on the hard tyres.

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As drizzle started to fall in the latter stages of the hour, there looked to be an issue for Oscar Piastri, who drove his McLaren slowly back to the pit lane after reporting a potential hydraulic problem.

Things seemed to be going better for the Australian’s team mate Norris, with the Briton setting the quickest time with a lap of 1m 27.420s on the soft compound. This put him 0.134s clear of Aston Martin’s Stroll in second, while Piastri still went third fastest despite his issue later on.

Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull, while the Mercedes duo of Russell and Lewis Hamilton set the fifth and seventh quickest times with the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso between them in sixth.

Charles Leclerc and Sainz followed for Ferrari in P8 and P9 respectively, and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10. Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg took P11, from the Kick Sauber of Valtteri Bottas, RB’s Daniel Ricciardo, Bearman and Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.

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The Williams of Alex Albon was 16th, with Doohan in 17th after his running was curtailed for some of the session due to issues with the Alpine. Colapinto took 18th, with Hadjar – who had a close call with the McLaren of Norris in the final moments of the session – just behind in 19th.

Tsunoda ended the hour down in 20th, having been unable to rejoin the fray following his earlier spin into the gravel.

With the first practice session of the weekend complete, the teams and drivers will debrief in the paddock before returning to the track for second practice at 1600 local time.