#F1 #BritishGP #FP1: @LewisHamilton quickest ahead of #Antonelli, @CharlesLeclerc.
Sir Lewis Hamilton, #44, Scuderia Ferrari HP, SF-26, Free Practice 1, Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2026, Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone Northampton, Towcester, England. Image credit to Clive Mason/Getty Images. Hamilton British GP FP1, 2026 British GP FP1, 2026 British GP FP1 Results, F1 British GP FP1 Results, British Grand Prix FP1 Results.
Hamilton British GP FP1 – Home favourite Sir Lewis Hamilton put his Ferrari on top of the time-sheets in the sole practice session before Sprint Qualifying at the British GP ahead of championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli who was second for Mercedes and in-front of team-mate Charles Leclerc who completed the top three in the other SF-26 entry.
Hamilton the nine-time British GP winner – set the session-topping benchmark with the Pirelli C3 red side-walled softer compounds on a 1:29.260 and was 0.213 seconds quicker than Antonelli whilst Leclerc was a further 0.599 seconds adrift of his Ferrari team-mate in third.
Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton lead the pack out on track with the C1 white-marked harder compounds.
The Briton registered the opening benchmark of a 1:34.696, which was ousted by Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg’s 1:34.395 whilst RB’s Liam Lawson went fastest on a 1:33.785.
Leclerc put his Ferrari second with a 1:33.800, then Norris jumped to the top posting a 1:33.212.
Piastri then shot to P1 setting a 1:32.873, which was beaten by Antonelli’s 1:32.579 as Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar slotted into third and was 0.598 seconds down on Antonelli’s best effort after setting a 1:33.177.
Russell replaced team-mate Antonelli at the top with a 1:32.539, but only momentarily as Hamilton went 0.662 seconds quicker than his former team-mate posting a 1:31.877 as Verstappen went fourth overall setting a 1:32.653.
Piastri went to the head of the pile setting a 1:31.819 to end up 0.058 seconds quicker than Hamilton just before the 10th minute-mark of proceedings.
Hadjar with the best middle sector went fastest on a 1:31.697 to be 0.122 seconds ahead of Norris whilst with three personal bests ended up fourth and 0.482 seconds off the Frenchman.
Antonelli with two purples and a personal best final sector went second on a 1:31.806.
Hamilton then demoted Hadjar at the top with his 1:31.434, but only briefly as Verstappen went even faster with a 1:31.277 as Leclerc slotted into third setting a 1:31.548.
Piastri was next ending up only 0.037 seconds off Verstappen’s best time as the McLaren driver set a 1:31.314.
Hadjar then snatched P1 off his team-mate with a 1:30.969 after posting the best middle sector time.
Championship leader Antonelli with a purple middle sector moved into second with a 1:30.976 as Norris with three personal bests wounded up seventh with a 1:31.595.
Leclerc was next with two personal bests and improved his time on a 1:31.327 to jump team-mate Hamilton in fifth.
Hulkenberg with three personal bests pipped his Audi team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto into tenth spot with a 1:31.907.
Austrian GP winner last-time out Russell was on his next flying tour and with three personal bests – the Briton put his Mercedes third on a 1:30.986 to end up 0.017 seconds adrift of Hadjar’s effort.
Hamilton was unable to improve on his 11th lap on the harder tyres and remained in sixth whilst Bortoleto moved to ninth on the time-sheets setting a 1:31.813.
Antonelli with two personal bests jumped to the head of the pile on a 1:30.777 to go 0.192 seconds clear of Hadjar 23 minutes into the sole practice session.
Replays showed Antonelli running wide at Village – reigning world champion Norris and Ferrari’s Leclerc as the duo suffered lock-ups into that same corner.
Hamilton was on another hot-lap with the harder compounds and with two personal bests went fourth setting a 1:31.201 to be 0.424 seconds off Antonelli’s best time.
The majority of the field were back in the garage adjusting their setups at the 25th-minute mark of the session.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown on McLaren so far: “Too early to tell, but I think we will be competitive. We are creeping up on it, and we should be getting there pretty soon, but we’ll see what this weekend holds. We definitely don’t have the car where we want it, we have some good stuff back at the factory that will be making its way to the car in the next race or two, so hopefully we’ll be back to winning ways after the summer break.”
By the halfway point of the hour-long-session – the majority re-emerged back on-circuit to continue their race long-data gathering run stint on the C1 harder tyres.
Leclerc with a personal best opening sector moved to fourth in the order setting a 1:31.001 and ended up 0.224 off Antonelli’s best time.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was the first to venture out on the C3 softer rubber for a qualifying simulation run and moved to 18th setting a 1:33.204.
Hamilton was next with two personal bests and a purple final sector to go quickest on a 1:30.521 to be 0.256 seconds clear of Antonelli.
The yellow flags were briefly brought out as Piastri suffered a spin through Becketts and into Chapel – the Australian continued on.
Replays showed he took a touch too much kerb on entry, but then the rear just stepped out on him.
Lance Stroll with three personal bests pushed his Aston Martin on a 1:33.289 as the Canadian also ran the softer tyres.
Both RB’s of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad rejoined on the C3 yellow-branded medium compounds with less than 18-minutes left on the clock.
Lindblad with his flying lap on the mediums moved into 11th place behind his team=mate setting a 1:31.877.
Only Hamilton, Lawson, Lindblad and Bottas were out on-track whilst the rest were in the pits adjusting their setups before returning on the C3 red-marked softer compounds.
Lawson with three personal bests went third in the order setting a 1:30.850 as Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas on the softs went up to 13th with his 1:32.236 effort.
Replays showed Lawson versus Hulkenberg, through multiple corners, the Audi refusing to cede and Lawson in the end forced to back out.
“What the ***** was that?” Lawson said as the matter was referred to the stewards and noted.
Piastri was the first of the front runners to bolt on a set of softs and with a personal best middle sector went quickest with a 1:30.647 as Russell was on his hot-lap with the C3’s and the Briton with the best middle sector jumped the Australian at the top on a 1:29.938 to be 0.209 seconds ahead.
Championship leader Antonelli was next and with two personal best and a purple sector three pipped his team-mate posting a 1:29.473 to go 0.465 in-front.
Leclerc with three personal bests set a 1:30.039 to go third as Hadjar slotted into fifth briefly posting a 1:30.338.
Norris jumped into fifth ahead of Hadjar setting a 1:30.288 whilst Hamilton on his hot-lap on the C3’s with two personal best and a purple sector three went fastest with a 1:29.260 with less than seven minutes remaining.
The seven-time world champion was 0.213 seconds clear of Antonelli at the head of the time-sheets.
Hulkenberg with three personal bests went to eighth setting a 1:30.763 as Leclerc improved to third on a 1:29.859.
Verstappen with his flying lap on the C3’s pushed to sixth quickest posting a 1:30.240.
Alpine’s Franco Colapinto with two personal bests was up to 11th with the medium tyres setting a 1:30.956.
Hulkenberg with less than a minute remaining improved on his time in ninth posting a 1:30.743.
Hamilton ended FP1 quickest in-front of Antonelli and Leclerc who rounded out the top three.
Australian and Austrian GP winner Russell was fourth and ahead of Piastri who placed fifth and four-time world champion Verstappen took sixth.
Reigning world champion Norris followed in seventh and in-front of Hadjar who ended up eighth in the order Red Bull.
Hulkenberg and Lawson completed the top ten.
You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2026 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 PIRELLI BRITISH GRAND PRIX 2026 – PRACTICE 1
#F1 @PirelliF1 #BritishGP 2026 Preview. #Formula1 #Silverstone
