Lando Norris wants to prove that Austria is forgotten and the McLaren driver is ready to fight for the top in the British GP. The Englishman was the fastest in the first free practice session at Silverstone with a time of 1’27″420 set with the soft tyres. The performance is impressive because it is 1″2 compared to last year’s FP1. The MCL38 was also very consistent in the long run, run, perhaps, with less fuel than the others, simulating a second part of the race.
The Woking team placed Oscar Piastri in third position: the Australian finished two tenths behind his teammate, while he had to give up the duration due to a power steering problem that forced him to block his single-seater in the access lane to the pitlane.
Of the two McLarens in qualifying trim, Lance Stroll stood out with the Aston Martin: the Canadian stopped 134 thousandths from the top, leaving Fernando Alonso in sixth place with the other AMR24. The important comparison data is that of Max Verstappen who is fourth with the Red Bull. The Dutchman obtained the time of 1’27″729 with the hard compound, preferring then to dedicate himself to the long run with the mediums, so much so that he has never used the red ones. The gap from the top indicates that the RB20 with the modified floor seems very competitive.
The two Mercedes are fifth and seventh with George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The black-silver arrows worked with the medium compound: the Spielberg winner seemed more at ease than the seven-time world champion, as he sought the right balance by frequently changing the incidence of the adjustable front flap.
And Ferrari? They carried out comparative tests: Charles Leclerc used the SF-24 with the latest aerodynamic evolution introduced in Barcelona, while Carlos Sainz took to the track with the bottom that had been used in Imola. The Prancing Horse team wants to understand if it is necessary to take a step back in development, to return to having results more in line with the expectations of the fans. Leclerc preceded his teammate by 22 thousandths, but Sainz achieved his performance with the white tyres, while the Monegasque was on the yellow ones. The gap from Norris (almost half a second) really doesn’t count because the Scuderia didn’t look for performance and didn’t use the soft ones.
Leclerc seemed to suffer from porpoising more evidently than Sainz: we will see what the indications will be in the afternoon when the two drivers will exchange solutions. Closing the top 10 is Esteban Ocon with the best Alpine that had dated soft.
Nico Hulkenberg with the old Haas is 11th, while Ollie Bearman with the new one recognizable by the radiator vents with the visor and the new floor is 14th, separated by almost half a second. Both used the red tires, but the Englishman did not look for the limit, preferring to collect useful data.
Valtteri Bottas performed well, 12th for Sauber, while Guanyu Zhou was 15th. In the middle was Daniel Ricciardo for Racing Bulls, while Yuki Tsunoda finished last: the Japanese driver spun at turn 7 and ended up in the sand. The session was interrupted with the red flag for the recovery of Faenza’s single-seater in the pits.
This session was characterized by the presence of many youngsters: Jack Doohan with the second Alpine is 17th immediately behind Alexander Albon with the Williams. The son of the motorcycle champion preceded Franco Colapinto in his debut with the FW46. The Argentine is 18th ahead of Isack Hadjar, the young Red Bull driver who gave Lando Norris a real scare, having to brake to avoid a collision at speed due to an involuntary impingement. Experience cannot be bought.
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