Lando Norris took first place in Friday’s first practice at Silverstone in McLaren’s updated MCL38, with the Brit 0.134s ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, with Oscar Piastri third.
The latter confirmed McLaren’s strong early form, but Piastri’s session was ended prematurely by a hydraulics issue.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished fourth in FP1, 0.309s behind Norris, with Mercedes’ George Russell completing the top five.
The Friday event began under overcast skies and cool temperatures, so grip was important from the start.
The tricky conditions added to the challenges faced by the four rookies taking part in the session: Red Bull’s Isaac Hadar, Alpine’s Jack Doohan, Haas’ Olli Bearman and Williams’ Franco Colapinto.
As a warning to the latter and the entire field, Yuki Tsunoda lost the rear of his RB at Ruffield, forcing the Japanese driver to coast his car, which inevitably brought out the red flag, but more importantly ended his session.
Russell, winner of last weekend’s Austrian GP, took the lead with a time of 1 minute, 888 seconds before the red card sounded, beating Verstappen by 0.214 seconds.
With Tsunoda’s car vacated, the session restarted and Behrman was the first driver to take the soft tyres, albeit early in the session. The young Briton’s flyer was good enough for P5.
But the turnover in the top 10 was fast and furious, with Sainz leading the pack, followed by Hamilton and Russell, and all three drivers driving hard.
But it wasn’t long before Verstappen took the lead with a time of 1:27.764, followed by Russell, Leclerc and Sainz, all of whom set their times on the medium tyres, showing that all three tyres were relevant.
But suddenly with 20 minutes to go, Piastri was on top, the McLaren Charger smashing the soft tyres with a 1m27.631. But the spread was tight, with the top seven separated by just 0.294s.
Not to be outdone, Norris took the baton from his team-mate in the lead, while Aston’s Stroll came in between the two McLarens and the trio set a time in the soft SUV.
Unfortunately, with less than ten minutes remaining, Piastri’s efforts were thwarted by a hydraulic failure, and his MCL38 came to a halt at the pit lane entrance.
Meanwhile, Leclerc averted a potential disaster by stumble-finding the slow-moving and indecisive Stroll at Beckett, nearly beating the Canadian.
Norris had a similar experience, having a dangerous moment with a distracted Hazard, and in the commotion the McLaren driver locked up his car and drove his wheels into the grass.
But Norris took the lead on the time sheets at the end of the session and McLaren looked strong from the start. Stroll’s best-flyer kept the Aston driver in second place, while Piastri Verstappen and Russell completed the top five.
They were followed by Alonso, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz and Ocon, with the top 10 separated by 0.554 seconds.
In the second half, Hulkenberg did not make the top 10, while Bearman was the fastest freshman, although he was half a second behind his Haas teammate.
Doohan, Colapinto and Hazar completed the lineup, with Tsunoda dying early and eventually coming last.
