British GP: Lando Norris sets FP1 pace as McLaren adopt different strategy to Red Bull
Lando Norris running aero rakes on his MCL38
Lando Norris put the headlines to one side as attention turned to the on-track action where he set the pace in the opening practice hour for the British Grand Prix.
In what turned out to be a mixed session for the McLaren team, who ran comparison tests between the two cars, Norris edged Lance Stroll by a tenth with Oscar Piastri P3 before his McLaren suffered a hydraulic leak and ground to a halt in the pit lane.
Yuki Tsunoda brings out the red flags at Luffield
Despite the morning’s earlier rain, Friday’s opening practice at the Silverstone circuit began on a dry track as test drivers, aero rakes, and comparison testing grabbed the headlines.
With the threat of rain in the air, the drivers were into the programmes with haste, all but Lance Stroll who returned to the garage after one lap as he reported a long brake pedal. He added: “Now there’s BBW fail.”
Valtteri Bottas laid down the opening gambit with a 1:31.7 but was outside the top ten a few minutes later as Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and then George Russell went quickest. Mercedes were running a trimmed front wing and reprofiled rear wing flap, specifically for the Silverstone circuit.
Nine minutes into the session the red flags were out for Yuki Tsunoda’s off at Luffield. He locked the rears on his VCARB01 and beached it in the gravel.
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The action resumed seven minutes later with a queue of cars pouring onto the track. Good news for Stroll, he reported that his brakes felt “okay”.
As the drivers continued to lay down the laps on the hard Pirelli tyres, Russell upped his pace in P1 to a 1:28.1, Verstappen split the Mercedes team-mates where he was two-tenths down on Russell, and Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz moved up to fifth and sixth places.
Haas went for something different as they bolted a set of soft tyres onto reserve and 2025 driver Ollie Bearman’s car, the teenager shooting up the timesheet to fifth place.
Midday through the session it was Sainz who sat P1 with a 1:27.9, putting him a tenth up on Hamilton with Russell third.
McLaren adopt different strategy with soft tyres runs
Swapping his tyre tyres for a set of medium Pirellis, Verstappen upped his pace to a 1:27.7 with Mercedes and Ferrari also making the change to the softer tyres. Russell went second quickest ahead of Leclerc, the Austrian GP winner missing out on P1 by a hundredth of a second.
As Verstappen upped his pace, Isack Hadjar – in for Sergio Perez for FP1 – was back in the pits having his seatbelts tightened. He was down in 20th place, eight seconds off the pace. There were also issues for Alpine’s Jack Doohan, a problem with the rear-left of Pierre Gasly’s A524.
McLaren bucked the trend of their fellow frontrunners in swapping to the medium tyres, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris putting the softs on their MCL38s. Piastri went quickest before Norris overhauled him with a 1:27.4, the McLaren team-mates split by the Aston Martin of Stroll who also put on a set of softs.
Piastri wasn’t able to respond as he reported a “hydraulics” issue. He crawled back to the pit lane with his MCL38 coming to a halt in the run down to the entry.
The session ended with Norris P1 with a 1:27.420, 0.134s ahead of Stroll with Piastri third. As for Verstappen, he was three-tenths down in fourth place, the best-placed medium runner.
Bearman was the best-placed reserve driver in 14th place where he was 1.1s down on the P1 time. Doohan was 17th ahead of Franco Colapinto and Hadjar. The latter was involved in a late incident with Norris that forced the McLaren driver onto the grass.
Times
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
11 Nico HULKENBERG +0.662
12 Valtteri BOTTAS +0.834
13 Daniel RICCIARDO +1.057
14 Oliver BEARMAN +1.116
15 Guanyu ZHOU +1.170
16 Alexander ALBON +1.229
17 Jack DOOHAN +1.315
18 Franco COLAPINTO +1.658
19 Isack HADJAR +1.850
20 Yuki TSUNODA +2.444
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