British GP Friday practice
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Hamilton now leads the way, posting a 1m29.118s, with Verstappen and Bottas making up the top three behind him. The two Mercedes cars are on mediums, Verstappen is on softs.
Crash
Russell has gone off into the grass after losing it at Broolands. He's fortunate not to find the barriers, and manages to return to the track safely.
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Radio Comms
Hamilton reports he's getting "no DRS on the main straight" - and is informed that it's been removed from the layout for this year.
Stopwatch
The Mercedes cars are now in action, and Bottas goes to the fore immediately with a 1m29.604s.
Replays show Alex Albon's Toro Rosso hitting a chunk of debris, presumably Grosjean's, on the Wellington Straight.
Stopwatch
The virtual safety car period has been lifted, and Norris improves to a 1m30.229s.
Replays show Grosjean, who's only now made it back to the pitlane, had simply lost the rear while turning right to exit from the pitlane. To add to the comedic effect, Bottas briefly stops his Mercedes car in the Haas box just before Grosjean.
Yellow flag
And that's a virtual safety car as a result. Bit silly, this.
And now he'll have to do an out-lap without a front wing. The photographers will certainly welcome that, but it's quite a ridiculous sight - especially now that the Frenchman's car has shed another bit of bodywork on the track.
Crash
Grosjean is stopped on pitlane exit, missing a front wing. He reports to his team that he spun!
Norris is some three seconds quicker immediately on the same tyre, but he's still around four seconds off the FP1 benchmark.
Stopwatch
Kubica fires in the first flying lap, a 1m34.735s.
This, of course, is F1's first running on the new Silverstone asphalt, after the track was re-resurfaced following the 2018 MotoGP cancellation debacle.
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Kubica is now alone on track on mediums, and might just be gearing up for an actual flying lap here.
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We're approaching the 15-minute mark and neither Mercedes car has showed up yet. And they're the reigning champions for however many years - so if they make do without, it suggests maybe F1 should really consider shortening practice.
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Radio Comms
"Steering wheel is bending a bit to the right," Kvyat reports. It sounded like "bending" anyway, though that doesn't really make a ton of sense in the context of it being a steering wheel.
Nearly eight minutes in, and teams have been limiting themselves to just installation laps so far - while Hamilton, Bottas and Russell are yet to head out at all.
Radio Comms
Leclerc asks whether he has a brake issue, reporting "something weird" under braking.
We've now had as many as 17 cars on track, but there isn't a laptime on the board just yet.
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Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, representing local team McLaren, are the first to head out on track.
Green flag
The green light is on for 90 minutes of FP1.
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Autosport
The F1 headlines these past couple of days have been dominated by one particular off-track story, a real doozy involving American outfit Haas' title sponsor Rich Energy. In case you want a refresher: 
We had a thoroughly entertaining F1 race in Austria last time out, which followed a snoozefest in France, which itself followed a very decent (if controversial) Canadian GP.
So, yeah, let's hope the pattern doesn't hold this weekend.
So, yeah, let's hope the pattern doesn't hold this weekend.
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Good morning/afternoon/evening (delete as appropriate) and welcome to our live coverage of the British Grand Prix weekend, with F1 track action set to begin in just over 10 minutes.
By: Geoff Creighton
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