Formula 1 title leader Max Verstappen flew clear of his opponents during Friday practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Verstappen emerged fastest on the Medium tyres early on in the session before moving further ahead when Red Bull fitted the Soft compound.
Verstappen’s time of 1:27.035s prompted Lewis Hamilton, then seven-tenths down, to exclaim “where does that [lap time] come from?”
Hamilton went again but was unable to improve his lap time and finished in third position.
The Briton has won his home race on seven occasions while last year Verstappen triumphed at the venue for the first time.
Verstappen holds a 32-point lead in the standings with Red Bull having won the last five grands prix.
Crowds back at Silverstone
The session took place in front of a large crowd at Silverstone, with this weekend’s event sold out, as part of the UK government’s Events Research Programme.
Last year’s British Grand Prix, as well as the following 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, occurred without spectators in attendance.
As part of the revised weekend format it was the sole practice session for teams to carry out on-track evaluations ahead of locking in set-up for the remainder of the weekend.
Qualifying will take place on Friday evening with Sprint, of length 17 laps, scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
A second practice session will take place on Saturday prior to Sprint in which teams are expected to prioritise long run pace, on account of having no more need for single-lap speed.
Conditions were calm throughout the hour – with Silverstone often susceptible to windy weather that can affect Formula 1 cars – while hot and sunny conditions are expected all weekend.
Norris, McLaren catch the eye
Lando Norris conceded during the build-up that he was still suffering the after-effects of being mugged at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley on Sunday.
Norris nonetheless impressed during the one-hour session as he finished second, a thousandth of a second in front of Hamilton, despite not running the Soft tyres.
Norris’ pace was reinforced by team-mate Daniel Ricciardo classifying ninth, having also avoided use of the Soft compound.
Norris’ time left Hamilton in third, with lead Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc splitting the Mercedes drivers, as Valtteri Bottas classified fifth.
In a session that featured little in the way of drama or incident Carlos Sainz was the only driver to spin as he rotated the Ferrari SF21 exiting Village mid-way through the session.
He recovered to finish sixth, as the last driver within a second of Verstappen’s benchmark.
Sebastian Vettel was seventh for Aston Martin, ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who was unable to get anywhere near Verstappen’s time.
The aforementioned Ricciardo and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10.
Scruffy session for Russell
While Norris and Hamilton placed second and third respectively, compatriot George Russell had a scruffier session further down the grid.
Russell ran wide exiting Copse on his Soft tyre run and had that lap time deleted – though that effort would still have left him adrift of Williams team-mate Nicholas Latifi.
Russell went again but remained at the rear of the 20-car field, behind both Haas drivers and Lance Stroll, who did not get a time in on Soft rubber.
He also had an off-track moment through Chapel during the closing stages of running.
Qualifying for the British Grand Prix Sprint is scheduled for 18:00 local time
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