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F1 British GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 and qualifying
All of Friday's action ahead of the F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone
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It's a 1m28.827s for Giovinazzi, which puts him P8 on the soft, just ahead of Leclerc's time on the medium. So far, other than Perez, everybody has made a decent improvement on softs. What can the top guys find?
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Here come the Mercedes, taking on softs for the first time.
Most of the big guns are in the garage currently, no doubt discussing set-up tweaks and refuelling with one or perhaps two more chances for a new tyre push before the end of the session.
Latifi moves up to tenth on the soft, and he's now joined on the red-walled tyre by team-mate Russell and the two Alfas with 15 minutes remaining in the session.
Replays show Sainz just lost the rear as he got on the throttle out of the tight Village right-hander and rotated before arriving back in the right direction prior to the Loop. No damage done, but that may harm his confidence ahead of qualifying later on.
Another flurry of improvements results in Ricciardo leaping into third on a 1m28.350s, but Norris immediately goes faster and dislodges Perez from second spot with a 1m27.814s. That's a very impressive effort on the mediums.
No harm no foul for Sainz, who has a quick spin at Turn 4 but continues.
Meanwhile, Norris has bolted up to third on the medium tyres with a 1m28.740s. That puts him just ahead of Leclerc, Gasly and Vettel, four different cars all scrapping to be the best of the rest. Can Alpine get itself back into that fight after an encouraging start to the session?
Verstappen is absolutely on it - it's a 1m27.035s, nearly a full second up on Perez's soft-shod time. Will the Mercedes have any answer for it when they attempt a soft run later on?
The first lap on softs for Perez is only a 1m28.163s, which is slower than Verstappen's PB on the medium. The Dutchman is now winding up a lap on softs - will he improve?
Ricciardo has also improved on the medium tyre and takes sixth place, but remains slower than the two Ferraris. Norris has been shuffled back to P18, suggesting he's not gone for a quali-sim lap on mediums as yet.
Perez is the first of the front-runners to try the soft. With free tyre choice for the GP on Sunday, expect a lot more emphasis than normal to be put on qualifying this weekend.
Sainz has also vaulted up the order into fifth, just behind Vettel, while Bottas and Hamilton are lapping in the low-to-mid 1m30s on the medium, suggesting they're trialling race fuel.
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Medium tyres are the most popular at the moment though, and Leclerc has just used them to move into third on a 1m28.863s with half an hour of the session remaining. He won't be too excited by that though, as it's still 1.1s away from Verstappen out in front.
The Haas drivers have vaulted up the order too, courtesy of being the first drivers so far to try out the softs. Schumacher is currently in the giddy heights of P10, while Mazepin is two spots further back - having clearly enjoyed his media session alongside Alonso yesterday, he's right next to the Spaniard on the timesheets.
Vettel now pops up in third as times start to tumble. It's a 1m28.945s on the medium for the four-time world champion, while Raikkonen comes in just behind his team-mate on a 1m29.970s also on mediums.
From last to sixth, Giovinazzi has made a heck of a leap up the order - it's a 1m29.685s for the Italian in the Alfa.
Aston are keeping up the heat on Alpine in the battle to be best of the rest, and sure enough Stroll goes ahead of Ocon into fifth with a 1m29.716s.
Yes he can - it's a 1m27.745s for Verstappen, 1.6s faster than the best Mercedes time on the medium tyres so far.
Perez has improved to close the gap to his team-mate to three tenths with a 1m28.505s. Can Verstappen do likewise and extend his advantage again?
Norris has posted an improvement that shuffles him to the lead of the McLaren vs Ferrari pack - but only to P11, with Leclerc, Sainz and Ricciardo just behind.
With his fresh set of mediums, Verstappen duly returns to the top spot he kept all to himself across the triple header just gone - it's a 1m28.179s for the Dutchman, who goes six tenths clear of Perez with a statement lap. "Catch me if ya can, chaps". Or words to that effect.
Perez has put on a set of the medium tyres and immediately jumps to top spot with a 1m28.855s. But Verstappen is going purple, what can he do?
We've not mentioned the Ferraris and McLarens yet - that's because the old rivals for top spot, nowadays rivals for third in the constructors, are on the fringes of the top 10. Leclerc is P11, 2.5s off the pace on the hard tyre, just ahead of Sainz, while Norris and Ricciardo are P14 and P15 with Russell's Williams between them and Sainz.
The Mercedes rivalry is hotting up, as Bottas strikes back on a 1m29.373s to reclaim top spot. Hamilton also improves, but only to a 1m29.509s.
Gasly does a lap that would have been good enough for P6, but it's swiftly struck off for track limits which leaves him rooted in P10.
As we talk about Ocon, he now moves up to third - ahead of the Red Bulls - with a 1m30.154s. That makes him the best hard-tyre runner so far.
On home turf just across the road from their factory, both Astons are showing good pace in the early stages with Vettel sixth and Lance Stroll up to P7 - sandwiching them are the Alpines of Ocon (fifth) and Alonso (eighth), with the AlphaTauris of Tsunoda and Gasly P9 and P10.
But Bottas's grip on P1 is looser than Fabien Barthez in his most well-worn gardening gloves, as Hamilton instantly wrests it back on a 1m29.690s. Both Mercedes men are using the mediums remember, Verstappen having only used hards so far.
Bottas now becomes the first man to break inside the 1m30s barrier, a 1m29.861s puts the Finn top.
Improvements from veterans Vettel and Alonso (both on hards) mean there are now nine cars within a second. There's a big chunk back to Russell in P10, who is 1.7s down on Hamilton's PB with a 1m31.821s.
We've had the first track limits-induced lap deletion of the session. Well done to Nikita Mazepin - you may pass Go and collect your prize.
Perez has just posted an improvement on his hard tyres to go third fastest, a 1m30.400s puts him just over a tenth behind Verstappen, while Ocon (hard) and Tsunoda (medium) also slot in ahead of Bottas who gets shuffled back to P6.
Bottas goes third after his first flyer, a 1m30.766s for the Mercedes driver, only just ahead of Gasly in fourth.
But, of course, with cars entering parc ferme conditions from the moment they enter qualifying, there isn't much time to work out the best compromise for race set-up versus single-lap. It's going to be one of the most fascinating FP1 sessions we've witnessed for a while!
But Hamilton on his medium tyres instantly goes quicker than Verstappen, a 1m30.048s. With only 55 minutes of track-time left until qualifying, everybody is keen to get a wiggle on and get their set-ups nailed.
The first representative laptime is set by Verstappen, who clocks a 1m30.274s which is 1.8s faster than next-quickest Esteban Ocon's Alpine, a new chassis for the Frenchman this weekend after a disastrous Austrian double-header last time out.
Bottas now does go out on a set of medium tyres, joining Hamilton, Stroll, Vettel, Gasly, Tsunoda, and the Haas cars on the yellow sidewall rubber.
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