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Formula 1 British GP

F1 British GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2

Friday's action from the 10th round of the 2023 Formula 1 season

The Red Arrows fly over the grid at Silverstone

F1 enters double figures for the season with Silverstone hosting the 10th race weekend of 2023 as Red Bull looks to extend its perfect win record.

Max Verstappen has been dominant this term with a personal victory haul of seven creating an 81-point lead at the top of the drivers' standings. 

Reverting back to a regular schedule following the Austrian sprint, Friday will see two one-hour practice sessions, with FP1 beginning at 12:30pm BST and FP2 at 4pm BST.

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"Something is broken," reports Zhou. Alfa Romeo instructs him to pit for a new steering wheel. Time will tell if that has solved the problem.
Piastri has climbed back up to P2, splitting the two Red Bull drivers. He is 0.2s back from Verstappen.
Ferrari has assembled a wall of mechanics at the front of the garage to prevent prying eyes from looking in. There seems to be a real air of concern.
A nice save from de Vries around Maggotts and Becketts. That may require a pitstop for a new pair of underwear!
Mechanical problem
Oh no. Autosport has learned that Leclerc has an electrical issue and this is the reason he is yet to join the on-track party.
Stopwatch
But now Perez, and now Verstappen take to the top. The Dutchman has set a 1m29.550s.
The early times begin to flood in with Piastri the early pacesetter from Ocon. Sainz is P3.
17 of the 20 drivers have instantly taken to the track with Leclerc, Magnussen and Hamilton the exceptions. All of those to have left the garages are on the hard tyres.
The five-minute delay was not in fact due to a barrier repair. In fact, the track was being swept after the earlier chaos!
Green flag
We are underway!
Good news! The session will begin at 16:05 BST, so we are less than two minutes from seeing cars leave the garages!
There is no indication of how long the delay to this session will be, but Silverstone has a good track record of making speedy repairs, so fingers crossed!
The delay comes as officials act to fix a barrier after a temporary fix was put in place to allow the F2 qualifying session to conclude.
After the start of F2 was delayed due to red flags in other categories, the start of FP2 has now also been pushed back.
The team getting the most attention this weekend is not actually racing. Instead, it is Brad Pitt's APXGP outfit, that will feature in a new F1-based film. 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-much-does-the-fictional-apxgp-car-differ-to-real-f1-machinery/10492661/
With the forecast for Saturday mixed and threatening thunderstorms, steady weather today has been welcomed by the teams. FP2 begins with air temps of 26.7 Celsius and a track temperature of 42.3.
FP1 was topped by - you guessed it - Max Verstappen, but the battle behind was furious with P2 Perez followed by Albon, Alonso, Leclerc and Ocon. 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-british-gp-fp1-report/10492686/
Good afternoon and welcome to FP2 at the British Grand Prix. The cars will be taking to the track in less than 10 minutes.
Thanks for joining us, be sure to return for FP2 which is due to take place at 1600hrs BST.
To catch up on all the action that happened during FP1 for the British GP, be sure to check out the session report here.
An update on the Brits, Hamilton and Russell finish P12 and P14 respectively, although neither Mercedes driver used the softest compound of tyre. McLaren's Norris bags a handy P8.
Performance of the session though has to go to Albon who finishes third. Very impressive lap, with the Williams showing plenty of straightline speed around the Silverstone circuit.
Team-mate Perez finishes second, but is unable to dip below the 1m29s barrier. Regardless, it's a very ominous sign that Red Bull are once again set to dominate this weekend.
But he's backed off in the second sector, meaning his 1m28.600s will stand as the session's fastest time.
But we're not done yet, Verstappen has gone purple in sector 1...
Checkered flag
And there's the chequered flag!
Final few minutes and only Piastri and Hamilton remain in the pits. Fair to say it has been a frenetic session.
Off track
Well if Hamilton's oversteer moment was big, Russell's just now was huge! Heading into Brooklands the Brit briefly locks-up the left-front and heads for the run-off.
Off track
Big oversteer moment for Hamilton through Stowe which sends him wide on the exit.
Perez showcasing the true dominance of the Red Bull by moving into the P2 slot. It's all becoming a bit predictable at the moment...
Make that third, Albon with a very impressive 1m29.089s to take second. Clearly he's managing to get on top of that Williams after struggling early on.
Stopwatch
Well, well, well. Having lingered towards the bottom of the timesheets for most of the session, Alonso puts in a lap which is good enough for second.
Stopwatch
A 1m28.836s!!! Verstappen is the first man to dip below the 1m29s barrier today and is nearly half a second clear of Leclerc.
Only a personal best in sector 1 for the Dutchman, but a purple sector 2.
I dare say Verstappen's effort will be quicker as he winds up for a lap on the softs.
Stopwatch
No is the answer, only third for the Mexican with a 1m29.333s.
A personal best in sector 1 and sector 2, but will it be enough to go fastest?
Here we go. Soft tyres on the Red Bull of Perez...
Russell reporting of steering problems over the radio. Definitely not what you want on one of the fastest circuits in the world.

By: Autosport Staff

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