Practice 1 Report - Lando quickest

Lando Norris
© McLaren

McLaren experienced a contrasting start to the British Grand Prix weekend, with Lando Norris setting the fastest time in Free Practice 1 (FP1) while Oscar Piastri struggled with car issues.

Norris clocked a best time of 1:28.721, showcasing impressive pace around Silverstone. However, Piastri’s session was cut short due to hydraulic pressure loss soon after he left the pits for a long run on Soft tyres. The Australian managed to crawl back to the pits with the help of marshals, but the team now faces a race against time to fix his car before FP2. The issue may be linked to a new gearbox installed earlier that day, though this is yet to be confirmed.

In an unusual strategy, McLaren was the only top team to use a set of Soft tyres during FP1. Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull opted to save their Soft tyres for future sessions, making it difficult to gauge true performance comparisons. Despite Norris’s impressive time, Max Verstappen and George Russell were just 0.3 seconds behind on Medium tyres, with best times of 1:29.037 and 1:29.040, respectively. Lewis Hamilton (1:29.158), Charles Leclerc (1:29.224), and Carlos Sainz (1:29.285) followed closely, indicating a potentially tight battle among the top four teams this weekend.

Norris’s session wasn’t without incident. He went off into the grass early on and later had to take evasive action to avoid rookie Isaak Hadjar at Turn 4. Despite these hiccups, Norris’s long-run pace appeared quicker than his rivals, although McLaren seemed to be running lighter on fuel. In contrast, Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari ran similar configurations, with Russell marginally quicker than Verstappen. Leclerc, equipped with an upgraded floor on his SF-24, had the quickest average lap time in the long runs, offering hope for Ferrari’s weekend prospects.

Aston Martin impressed at their home Grand Prix, with Lance Stroll finishing second fastest at 1:28.892 and Fernando Alonso in sixth at 1:29.237. However, their performance may have been aided by lighter fuel loads, a strategy the team has employed throughout the weekend. Stroll has been summoned to the Stewards for impeding Leclerc during the Maggotts/Becketts sequence, an incident narrowly avoiding a collision.

Esteban Ocon emerged as the best of the rest, placing tenth with a time of 1:29.486, just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg (1:29.509) and Valtteri Bottas (1:29.513). For VCARB, the session was less positive. Daniel Ricciardo managed a 13th place finish with a 1:29.743, but Yuki Tsunoda spun out during his second quick lap and ended the session at the bottom of the timesheets with a 1:30.155.

Four rookies took part in FP1, fulfilling their mandated two runs per year. Oliver Bearman, with significant experience in Haas, was the fastest rookie, finishing 14th with a time of 1:29.786, just 0.4 seconds slower than teammate Hulkenberg. Mick Doohan, driving for Alpine, clocked a 1:30.178, while Franco Colapinto, in his first FP1 outing for Williams, managed a 1:30.203, only 0.4 seconds off Alex Albon’s best time. Isaak Hadjar, standing in for Sergio Pérez at Red Bull, was the slowest rookie at 1:30.326, after inadvertently impeding Norris in Turn 3 towards the session’s end.

As the teams prepare for FP2, McLaren faces a challenging task to ready Piastri’s car, while the rest of the grid will be keenly assessing their rivals’ true pace on comparable tyres.