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# What happened in practice at F1's British GP
- URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-happened-in-practice-at-f1s-british-gp/
- Published: 2026-07-03T12:51:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-03T12:51:29.000Z
- Description: Lewis Hamilton put Ferrari on top in the sole Formula 1 practice session ahead of sprint qualifying at the British Grand Prix
- Author: Jack Cozens
- Tags: Formula 1, #ferrari, #lewis-hamilton, #hide-countdown, #image-bottom-center

Lewis Hamilton put Ferrari on top in the sole Formula 1 practice session ahead of sprint qualifying at the British Grand Prix.

The driver with the most grand prix wins at Silverstone - nine - Hamilton was fastest of all on the hard-tyre runs that dominated the first 40 minutes of the session, then displaced championship leader Kimi Antonelli once performance runs were conducted.

Hamilton was 0.051s shy of Mercedes driver Antonelli through the first two sectors, but appeared to have a step on the competition in the final sector - and duly ended up 0.213 seconds clear on a 1m29.260s.

Antonelli was the only driver within half a second of the pacesetting time; Charles Leclerc did back Hamilton up by putting the other Ferrari third in the times, but he was 0.599s behind his team-mate, with George Russell almost seven tenths down as Mercedes and Ferrari locked out the top four positions.

An early Oscar Piastri spin at the second part of Becketts - the McLaren driver touched the apex kerb through the fast right-hander - was one of only two moments of real note in FP1, the other being a bit of needle between Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg at Village as Racing Bulls driver Lawson tried to start a push lap.

Piastri was fifth but 0.887s down, with Max Verstappen almost a tenth further back in a Red Bull that had looked far more competitive a prospect on hard tyres at the start of the session. Lando Norris and Isack Hadjar were seventh and eighth.

Hulkenberg ended the session with 'best of the rest' honours behind the top-four teams, lapping 1.483s slower than Hamilton as the fastest driver on the medium-compound tyre - which will be used in the first and second parts of sprint qualifying on Friday afternoon.

Lawson completed the top 10 behind the Audi driver, with Franco Colapinto also using mediums in 11th.

### FP1 result

1 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m29.260s  
2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.213s  
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.599s  
4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.678s  
5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.887s  
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.980s  
7 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.028s  
8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.078s  
9 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.483s  
10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.590s  
11 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.706s  
12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.775s  
13 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.079s  
14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.113s  
15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.424s  
16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.424s  
17 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.437s  
18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.890s  
19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.981s  
20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.697s  
21 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +3.759s  
22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.870s