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F1 British GP: Norris completes Friday clean sweep as rain scuppers late FP2 runs

Lando Norris completed a clean sweep of Friday's free practice sessions ahead of the British Grand Prix, having beaten McLaren Formula 1 team-mate Oscar Piastri by 0.331 seconds in FP2.

Norris posted a 1m26.549s among the mid-session soft-tyre runs to go top in preparation for qualifying on Saturday, chiselling Piastri off the top of the charts as the Australian briefly held the fastest time.

Max Verstappen had produced the fastest lap of the opening runs, a 1m27.831s set amid the flurry of laps on mediums in the first 10 minutes.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton got close on their medium-tyre runs, but neither could break below the 88-second barrier on their initial laps. Verstappen made an early start to the customary soft-tyre running with a 1m27.233s, although Carlos Sainz managed to do a lap just 0.523s behind his ex-Toro Rosso team-mate on the mediums.

Russell found more time on the mediums, getting within three-tenths of Verstappen's lap, before the soft-tyre runs got started properly across the middle part of the session - as it became increasingly evident that Verstappen was running off-sync with everyone else.

Verstappen's time was dislodged from the top by Charles Leclerc, who saved his Ferrari from a precipitous slide in Maggotts/Becketts to briefly stand fastest. The Monegasque was supplanted by Nico Hulkenberg's 1m26.990s, the first time in the 1m26s all weekend, who in turn conceded his position to Oscar Piastri.

Piastri had clocked a 1m26.880s, but this was put in the shade by Norris' 1m26.549s, who landed at the top as the soft-tyre runs drew to a close.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38 (Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images)

This coincided with radio traffic explaining that rain was expected to fall in the final 5-10 minutes of the session, prompting the switch to a range of compounds to log the usual long runs in preparation for the grand prix.

The timesheets were thus left largely as-was, ensuring that Norris headed both Friday sessions and kept Piastri in second overall; with five minutes to go, rain started to pepper the Silverstone circuit to dampen the teams' desire to continue their long runs up to the clock.

Although a few drivers later emerged on intermediate tyres to explore the circuit in moderately damp conditions, this unsurprisingly made little difference to the timing order.

Sergio Perez, who did not take part in FP1 after giving up his seat for Isack Hadjar, was among the last few drivers to set a lap on softs and launched himself up the order into third. This shuffled Hulkenberg down a position as Leclerc completed the top five, 0.6s shy of Norris' headliner, and half a tenth clear of Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen's early soft time was good enough for seventh, as Sainz, Lance Stroll, and George Russell completed the top 10.

F1 British Grand Prix - Free Practice 2 results

   
1
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4
   
   
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2
   
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 McLaren Mercedes 26

1'26.549

  245.035
2 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes 24

+0.331

1'26.880

0.331 244.102
3 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 Red Bull Red Bull 25

+0.434

1'26.983

0.103 243.813
4 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 Haas Ferrari 26

+0.441

1'26.990

0.007 243.793
5 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari 27

+0.601

1'27.150

0.160 243.345
6 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Mercedes 44 Mercedes Mercedes 26

+0.653

1'27.202

0.052 243.200
7 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull 21

+0.684

1'27.233

0.031 243.114
8 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 Ferrari Ferrari 31

+0.700

1'27.249

0.016 243.069
9 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes 21

+0.725

1'27.274

0.025 243.000
10 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes 26

+0.745

1'27.294

0.020 242.944
11 Spain F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 Aston Martin Mercedes 25

+0.823

1'27.372

0.078 242.727
12 Finland V. Bottas Sauber 77 Sauber Ferrari 16

+0.832

1'27.381

0.009 242.702
13 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes 26

+1.096

1'27.645

0.264 241.971
14 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault 24

+1.183

1'27.732

0.087 241.731
15 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 Alpine Renault 19

+1.194

1'27.743

0.011 241.701
16 Japan Y. Tsunoda RB 22 RB Red Bull 26

+1.196

1'27.745

0.002 241.695
17 United States L. Sargeant Williams 2 Williams Mercedes 24

+1.260

1'27.809

0.064 241.519
18 China Z. Guanyu Sauber 24 Sauber Ferrari 19

+1.264

1'27.813

0.004 241.508
19 Australia D. Ricciardo RB 3 RB Red Bull 25

+1.367

1'27.916

0.103 241.225
20 Denmark K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20 Haas Ferrari 20

+1.573

1'28.122

0.206 240.661
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