British Grand Prix FP1: Lewis Hamilton sets the early pace with Kimi Antonelli chasing
F1 NewsFriday, 03 July 2026 at 14:30
Seven-time Formula 1 Champion Lewis Hamilton had a great start for his home weekend in Silverstone topping the first and only practice session for the 2026 British Grand Prix.
The outcome of FP1 was against all initial expectations that Ferrari will struggle due to their underpowered yet nimble SF-26.
But then, there is a chance that the Reds went for some glory runs to give the Hamilton fans something to cheer about while Mercedes are yet to turn up the wick.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was second fastest in the Mercedes, 0.213s off the pace as Charles Leclerc was third fastest in the sister Ferrari, almost six tenths off the pace of his teammate.
It wasn't an encouraging start for George Russell on his home F1 race as he was fourth fastest, 0.678s away from the best time and was followed by Oscar Piastri who was fifth in the McLaren, 0.209s further down.
It seems Red Bull Racing left their Austrian Grand Prix upgrade behind as Max Verstappen was almost one second off the pace in sixth with Lando Norris a little bit over one second behind in seventh.
Isack Hadjar was eighth fastest with Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson completing the top ten.
Buildup towards FP1
F1 heads into Great Britain this weekend on the back of the race in Austria which Russell won for Mercedes.
While Silverstone is as classic as F1 tracks can be, we may have to accept that its allure will be diminished this weekend with the 2026 F1 cars' power units' shortcomings expected to be magnified around the track that require grunt in addition to aerodynamic excellence.
Fast sweepers will be relegated to charging stations according to Fernando Alonso while Hamilton believes it will not be the same.
Russell on the other hand disagrees, but we should be smart enough by now not to even give him the benefit of the doubt.
On the other hand, the Briton is looking to win his first home race this weekend while Hamilton, despite it being a long shot, is targeting win #10 at Silverstone, a place where he has previously delivered some F1 magic.
Antonelli, on the other hand, will be hoping to crash his teammate's homecoming by winning, or at least beating him to regain the initiative in the Title fight.
While Mercedes remain the package to beat, Red Bull Racing would be interesting to watch after their Austria upgrade with McLaren remaining as mystery as Ferrari's underpowered SF-26 is expected to struggle.
In terms of tyres, Pirelli brought their hardest compounds this weekend with the C1 (Hard), C2 (Medium), and C3 (Soft) available for the teams.
In terms of car upgrades, nothing much as teams just brought some bits and pieces. New front brake ducts and floor for McLaren. New front wing for Williams. A new rear wing for Haas. An updated floor corner and diffuser geometry for Racing Bulls. Revised body work at the rear corner for Ferrari and Red Bull Racing.
Of course, it is a Sprint weekend, so teams will have only FP1 to fine tune their cars before Sprint Qualifying later on Friday.
FP1 Session Highlights
With great weather expected over the course of the weekend in Silverstone, the session started in clear conditions with track temperatures at 40 degrees Celsius while air temperature was 22 degrees.
Hamilton seemed eager to head out and meet his home crowds as he was the first out in the pitlane waiting at the exit for the green light to go on.
More drivers soon joined the #44 Ferrari that led the way out on track kicking off FP1.
🟢 FP1 GREEN LIGHT 🟢
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 3, 2026
The 2026 British Grand Prix weekend is under way! #F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/PGLiFxtMP0
Verstappen was the last driver to join the track heading out four minutes after the green light.
All the cars started the session with the white-walled Hard tyres bolted to them.
Norris soon had a moment, running wide and into the run-off before rejoining the track.
The McLaren Champion has his own grandstand this weekend.
Lando waves to the fans sitting in his grandstand 👋 #F1 #BritishGP @McLarenF1 pic.twitter.com/K076OUp9sf
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 3, 2026
The drivers went on putting rubber down on the track as lap times continued to improve with every extra lap as several names took turns on the top spot in the timing screens.
Antonelli, caught out by tail wind, then missed his braking point at Turn 3 and ran wide with Leclerc doing the same, while Verstappen gave his RB22 a beating at Turn 16 over the kerb.
Max-ing out over the kerbs 😮#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/mt5Ld3qhXg
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 3, 2026
Almost halfway into the session, the drivers finished their initial runs and returned to their respective garages for some tweaks and preparations for their second outings.
Halfway through FP1
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 3, 2026
TOP 10
Antonelli
Hadjar
Russell
Hamilton
Verstappen
Piastri
Leclerc 📸
Norris
Bortoleto
Lawson #F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/tyexSrESsB
Both McLaren drivers seemed to struggle to keep their MCL40s in check with CEO Zak Brown confirming neither of them was happy with the car, the American was speaking with the F1TV commentary team during the live coverage.
Piastri then had a huge moment at Becketts his car snapping as he ended up in the run-off.
Asked by his engineer if all was good, he said his tyres were done at that point.
Oscar Piastri has a huge moment at Becketts 😮
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 3, 2026
The Aussie has to use all of the run-off area before returning to the pits #F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/Et0bsTQ9OS
With 20 minutes remaining, the Soft tyres made their first appearance with both Aston Martins. Lawson and Lindblad switched to Mediums.
Lawson soon after had a moment with Hulkenberg who didn't get out of the Kiwi's way while exiting the pits.
Lindblad, on the other hand, reported more grip that he expected on the Mediums. The rookie is running a custom helmet this weekend.
"My path, my way"
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 3, 2026
Arvid Lindblad with a special helmet to mark his first home grand prix 💪#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/Le3J5KgwsB
Perez radioed his team complaining too much air was entering his helmet. He was on a Soft-tyre run.
Soon the more teams started getting out for some Qualifying simulations on the Soft tyres.
Sainz asked how much improvement is expected from the Soft tyres. His engineer responded it was one second worth of lap time.
After the Qualifying sims which saw Hamilton go fastest, the session was concluded with practice starts.
British Grand Prix FP1 Classification
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