Friday Report - Norris fastest in windy British GP session

Lando Norris
© McLaren

Lando Norris topped a blustery second practice session at Silverstone, finishing over two-tenths clear of Charles Leclerc and three-tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton as the British Grand Prix weekend continued with gusty conditions and rising temperatures.

After Ferrari showed early pace in FP1, Leclerc and Hamilton again featured near the top in the opening half of FP2 as drivers ran medium tyres. Hamilton initially led the timesheets with a 1m26.592s on the C3 compound, before the order was shaken up when teams switched to the soft C4s for qualifying simulations.

George Russell and rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli led the way for Mercedes as the first to complete their push laps on the softs. Antonelli was particularly impressive, improving on his teammate's time despite a snap of oversteer through Club. Leclerc soon jumped to the top with a 1m26.202s, but reported an issue with his front-left corner, claiming he lost time through the lap.

That opened the door for Norris to go quickest, the McLaren driver punching in a clean 1m25.816s to go nearly four-tenths faster than Leclerc's benchmark. Hamilton, who had aborted his first soft-tyre attempt, improved to third with a 1m26.117s, but remained three-tenths off Norris's pace.

Oscar Piastri slotted in fourth, less than half a second behind his McLaren teammate, while Max Verstappen could only manage fifth after battling a front-end balance issue that left him struggling in Silverstone's high-speed corners.

Antonelli's lap held up for sixth, ahead of Lance Stroll, with Russell ending up eighth after his earlier time failed to keep pace with later improvements. Isack Hadjar continued his strong form in ninth, just 0.001s behind Russell and narrowly ahead of Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson.

Carlos Sainz endured a spin early in the session, triggered by a 20km/h gust exiting Luffield. He rejoined ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and was placed under investigation for doing so unsafely.

Further back, Alexander Albon was 11th for Williams, while Fernando Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the top 13.

With cooler temperatures expected tomorrow, Saturday's final practice and qualifying may bring another shakeup.