Hamilton quickest in practice 1 - Britain

Hamilton had been the first of the major contenders to attempt a flying lap in the overcast and gusty conditions, emerging from the pits after half an hour. He worked his way down to a 1:21.828 before spinning at the entry to the Abbey chicane. He recovered with minimal drama.

Alonso then beat his teammate with a 1:21.675, which stood for seven minutes until Kimi Raikkonen put Ferrari ahead by 0.029 seconds.

His tenure on top was fleeting, as Felipe Massa produced a 1:21.285 lap moments later.

The McLarens then responded in the final half-hour, but a potentially very quick lap by Alonso ended with a trip across the grass and gravel at Priory. He rejoined the course at Brooklands and abandoned the run.

Hamilton had better fortune, retaking first position by 0.185 seconds with fifteen minutes remaining.

Raikkonen beat Hamilton's time in the first sector on his penultimate run, but could not match it in the remaining part of the lap and had to settle for taking second from Massa.

Although the Finn improved his time again on his final lap, Hamilton remained 0.111 seconds ahead.

Behind Massa and Alonso in third and fourth, Nico Rosberg completed the top five for Williams with a late lap nine tenths of a second off the pace.

Until Rosberg's improvement, the BMWs had comfortably held the 'best of the rest' positions, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld ending up sixth and seventh respectively.

Rosberg's teammate Alex Wurz moved to eighth near the end of the 90 minutes, with Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) and Rubens Barrichello (Honda) occupying the remaining top ten positions.

Jarno Trulli fell to 11th after a spin on the exit of Club late in the session.

Several drivers made minor errors as the wind made Silverstone's fast corners particularly tricky, but all continued except David Coulthard. The Scot spun his Red Bull into the Priory gravel with 20 minutes remaining.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time               Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:21.100            24
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            (B)  1:21.211  + 0.111   26
 3.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:21.285  + 0.185   26
 4.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:21.675  + 0.575   21
 5.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:22.006  + 0.906   24
 6.  Kubica        BMW Sauber         (B)  1:22.107  + 1.007   25
 7.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:22.176  + 1.076   13
 8.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:22.216  + 1.116   23
 9.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:22.878  + 1.778   21
10.  Barrichello   Honda              (B)  1:22.956  + 1.856   27
11.  Trulli        Toyota             (B)  1:23.030  + 1.930   26
12.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:23.037  + 1.937   24
13.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:23.099  + 1.999   25
14.  Fisichella    Renault            (B)  1:23.179  + 2.079   21
15.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:23.517  + 2.417   17
16.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:23.548  + 2.448   18
17.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:23.564  + 2.464   21
18.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:23.618  + 2.518   15
19.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:23.854  + 2.754   20
20.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:23.954  + 2.854   25
21.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:24.154  + 3.054   23
22.  Albers        Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:24.172  + 3.072   30