#BritishGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen quickest ahead of @LandoNorris and @LewisHamilton. #F1

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen topped the opening FP1 session at the British GP ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.779 seconds and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

The World Driver’s Championship leader posted a 1:27.035 on the C3 red side-walled softer compounds, which gave him a solid advantage on the top of the time-sheets in the only practice session before qualifying, as part of the new race weekend format with the sport running it’s inaugural qualifying sprint race tomorrow.

Norris was second, with his best effort set on the medium rubber as reigning champion Hamilton only managed third and 0.001 seconds off his fellow British compatriot, as Mercedes brought in a string of updates to Silverstone.

It was hot and sunny conditions for opening practice at Silverstone, with all drivers hitting the track inside the first few minutes of the sole-hour session before evening qualifying.

Hamilton set the early benchmark of a 1:30.048 in his initial flyer with the mediums, two tenths faster than Verstappen on the hards, with both Silver Arrows drivers running scheduled updates for the first time.

After a first stint on the hards, the Red Bull drivers put on the mediums to see Verstappen lower the benchmark to a 1:28.179 – over half a second quicker than team-mate Sergio Perez.

Verstappen went four tenths quicker a tour later, having reported a drop of power on a previous lap, before coming in for a set of softs.

The Dutchman set a 1:27.035 on his initial hot-lap on the red-marked rubber to be over a second ahead of team-mate Perez, until Norris placed his McLaren in second, but remained on the medium compounds and was 0.779 seconds back.

Most of the teams switched for the softer rubber in the final 15 minutes of the session, including both Mercedes drivers, with Hamilton jumping up to third place in his F1 W12 racer and a very narrow 0.001 second adrift of Norris, but a huge 0.780 seconds off of session-topper Verstappen.

Ferrari also opted to leave it’s soft tyre stint near the end of the session, as Charles Leclerc moved to fourth and relegated Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas to fifth.

After suffering a mid-session spin in his SF21 racer at the exit of Village corner, Carlos Sainz finished a strong sixth place, in-front of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel who was seventh and the aforementioned Red Bull of Perez in eighth on the time-sheets.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo ended opening practice in ninth and ahead of Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon who completed the top ten.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda were 11th and 12th respectively, in-front of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi who came 13th on the order, Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso in 14th and the other Alfa of Kimi Raikkonen 15th.

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi was 16th and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher who ended opening practice 17th and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in a low 18th.

The other Haas of Nikita Mazepin and Williams Racing’s George Russell brought up the rear with the latter suffering a damaged mirror.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2021 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1072/great-britain/practice-1.html

#Formula1 Pirelli #BritishGP 2021 Preview – #F1