British Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton fastest in only Silverstone practice session

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton led practice for the British Grand Prix ahead of Friday’s sprint qualifying.

The seven-time champion was 0.213 seconds faster than championship leader Kimi Antonelli, and Charles Leclerc’s second Ferrari was also ahead of his Italian Mercedes teammate George Russell, who won in Austria last weekend.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was the fifth fastest, remaining 0.887 seconds off the pace despite Becketts spinning in the middle of the session.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took sixth place, 0.980 seconds behind Hamilton, while the second McLaren of Lando Norris and Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar clearly struggled for grip.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson rounded out the top 10.

The session was held in 23C temperatures under big blue skies at the start of the weekend when an all-time record 500,000 people are expected to be at Silverstone.

Hamilton, who holds the all-time record for wins at this track with nine wins, was a surprise pacesetter.

He predicted on Thursday that Ferrari would lose twice as much time to Mercedes on the straights as they did in Austria last weekend; here the 41-year-old driver was struggling to move up to fifth place, two weeks after his landmark first Ferrari victory in Barcelona.

Apart from Piastri’s return, the session was relatively uneventful. Sprint qualifying starts at 16:30 BST.