Practice report

F1 British GP: Lewis Hamilton leads Kimi Antonelli in sole Silverstone practice

The seven-time world champion went fastest late on at Silverstone, beating the championship leader by two tenths ahead of sprint qualifying

Lewis Hamilton made a brilliant start to his British Grand Prix weekend as the seven-time Formula 1 world champion went fastest in practice.

The Ferrari driver set a 1m29.260s on the soft tyre, 0.213s quicker than his Mercedes successor and championship leader Kimi Antonelli - who had led much of the running.

There was action from the start as it was the only practice session of this sprint weekend, as teams rushed out of the pitlane with hards being the compound of choice early on.

It led to the lead changing hands multiple times as drivers continuously racked up the lap counts with fuel loads decreasing and the hot 49C Silverstone track evolving.

Come the halfway mark, Antonelli had the pace with a 1m30.777s, just 0.192s quicker than Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and 0.209s faster than team-mate and title rival George Russell.

If the contentious ADUO [Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities] results are anything to go by then Red Bull and Mercedes occupying the top three times was to be expected, as the Northamptonshire track is incredibly sensitive on power.

That was a huge talking point on Thursday, and with those times being four seconds off Hamilton’s FP1 benchmark from 2025, it showed how much top speed was sacrificed to reduce superclipping.

But it was still early and the Ferrari driver did sneak in a 1m30.521s on the hard tyre, 0.256s quicker than Antonelli, just as Oscar Piastri had a spin between Becketts and Chapel with 25 minutes remaining.

Oscar Piastri spun his McLaren in the session

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

The real action came when teams performed their soft tyre runs across the final 10 minutes though, which saw the Mercedes pair become the first to break the 1m30s barrier.

It was led by Antonelli on 1m29.473s, a whopping 0.465s quicker than Russell who had Charles Leclerc just a tenth behind. However, his Ferrari team-mate Hamilton went quickest with six minutes left.

The seven-time world champion set a 1m29.260s in front of his home crowd and that lap time subsequently went unchallenged, as Antonelli spent the remaining minutes in his garage.

Leclerc did the opposite, however, as the Monegasque snatched third late on with a 1m29.859s that put him just less than a tenth ahead of fourth-placed Russell on a 1m29.938s.

Piastri rounded out the top five with a 1m30.147s, a tenth quicker than sixth-placed Max Verstappen for Red Bull. The McLaren driver’s team-mate Lando Norris took seventh.

The reigning world champion set a 1m30.288s, 0.050s quicker than eighth-placed Hadjar, while best of the rest went to Audi driver Nico Hulkenberg who is still looking for his first point of 2026.

Hulkenberg set a 1m30.743s, his fastest time coming on the medium tyre, putting him ahead of Racing Bulls man Liam Lawson, who completed the top 10 on a 1m30.850s, also on mediums.

Photos from British GP - Friday

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

George Russell, Mercedes; Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team

British Grand Prix - Friday

British Grand Prix - Friday

Formula 1

F1 British GP: FP1 results

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	32	1'29.260		S	237.593
2	A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	29	+0.213 1'29.473	0.213	S	237.027
3	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	31	+0.599 1'29.859	0.386	S	236.009
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	31	+0.678 1'29.938	0.079	S	235.802
5	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	25	+0.887 1'30.147	0.209	S	235.255
6	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3	Red Bull	Red Bull	27	+0.980 1'30.240	0.093	S	235.013
7	L. Norris McLaren	1	McLaren	Mercedes	27	+1.028 1'30.288	0.048	S	234.888
8	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6	Red Bull	Red Bull	28	+1.078 1'30.338	0.050	S	234.758
9	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27	Audi	Audi	29	+1.483 1'30.743	0.405	M	233.710
10	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Red Bull	28	+1.590 1'30.850	0.107	M	233.435
11	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Mercedes	28	+1.706 1'30.966	0.116	M	233.137
12	G. Bortoleto Audi	5	Audi	Audi	28	+1.775 1'31.035	0.069	M	232.960
13	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41	RB	Red Bull	32	+2.079 1'31.339	0.304	M	232.185
14	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	27	+2.113 1'31.373	0.034	S	232.099
15	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	33	+2.424 1'31.684	0.311	S	231.311
16	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	27	+2.424 1'31.684	0.000	S	231.311
17	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	30	+2.437 1'31.697	0.013	S	231.279
18	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77	Cadillac	Ferrari	22	+2.890 1'32.150	0.453	M	230.142
19	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11	Cadillac	Ferrari	23	+2.981 1'32.241	0.091	M	229.915
20	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Honda	25	+3.697 1'32.957	0.716	M	228.144
21	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Mercedes	25	+3.759 1'33.019	0.062	M	227.992
22	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Honda	26	+3.870 1'33.130	0.111	M	227.720
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