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Motorsport

Ed Hardy

F1 British GP: Lewis Hamilton leads Kimi Antonelli in sole Silverstone practice

Kimi Antonelli Lewis Hamilton George Russell Oscar Piastri Charles Leclerc Ferrari Isack Hadjar Mercedes Nico Hulkenberg Red Bull

Lewis Hamilton made a brilliant start to his British Grand Prix weekend as the seven-time Formula 1 world champion went fastest in practice.

The Ferrari driver set a 1m29.260s on the soft tyre, 0.213s quicker than his Mercedes successor and championship leader Kimi Antonelli - who had led much of the running.

There was action from the start as it was the only practice session of this sprint weekend, as teams rushed out of the pitlane with hards being the compound of choice early on.

It led to the lead changing hands multiple times as drivers continuously racked up the lap counts with fuel loads decreasing and the hot 49C Silverstone track evolving.

Come the halfway mark, Antonelli had the pace with a 1m30.777s, just 0.192s quicker than Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and 0.209s faster than team-mate and title rival George Russell.

If the contentious ADUO [Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities] results are anything to go by then Red Bull and Mercedes occupying the top three times was to be expected, as the Northamptonshire track is incredibly sensitive on power.

That was a huge talking point on Thursday, and with those times being four seconds off Hamilton’s FP1 benchmark from 2025, it showed how much top speed was sacrificed to reduce superclipping.

But it was still early and the Ferrari driver did sneak in a 1m30.521s on the hard tyre, 0.256s quicker than Antonelli, just as Oscar Piastri had a spin between Becketts and Chapel with 25 minutes remaining.

Oscar Piastri spun his McLaren in the session (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images)

The real action came when teams performed their soft tyre runs across the final 10 minutes though, which saw the Mercedes pair become the first to break the 1m30s barrier.

It was led by Antonelli on 1m29.473s, a whopping 0.465s quicker than Russell who had Charles Leclerc just a tenth behind. However, his Ferrari team-mate Hamilton went quickest with six minutes left.

The seven-time world champion set a 1m29.260s in front of his home crowd and that lap time subsequently went unchallenged, as Antonelli spent the remaining minutes in his garage.

Leclerc did the opposite, however, as the Monegasque snatched third late on with a 1m29.859s that put him just less than a tenth ahead of fourth-placed Russell on a 1m29.938s.

Piastri rounded out the top five with a 1m30.147s, a tenth quicker than sixth-placed Max Verstappen for Red Bull. The McLaren driver’s team-mate Lando Norris took seventh.

The reigning world champion set a 1m30.288s, 0.050s quicker than eighth-placed Hadjar, while best of the rest went to Audi driver Nico Hulkenberg who is still looking for his first point of 2026.

Hulkenberg set a 1m30.743s, his fastest time coming on the medium tyre, putting him ahead of Racing Bulls man Liam Lawson, who completed the top 10 on a 1m30.850s, also on mediums.