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British GP
F1 British GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2
Updates for Friday practice at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone
Max Verstappen extended his lead in the F1 world drivers’ championship to 46 points with victory at the Canadian GP last time out, as Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez failed to finish and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc recovered to fifth place after a back of the grid penalty for an engine change.
A number of teams have delivered car upgrades ahead of the Silverstone round, which is set to play out in front of a sold-out crowd.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton won the British GP last year, following a controversial first-corner clash with Verstappen.
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He does now get at least a vaguely clean lap in and moves up to 12th, but still 0.8s slower than Hamilton. However, the Mercedes are on different strategies with Hamilton on mediums and Russell hards.
Hamilton improves again to third, 0.8s adrift of Leclerc, but he's rapidly relegated to fourth again by Verstappen - who goes P2.
Meanwhile, Albon is up to seventh on the softs for Williams - his car absolutely smothered in flow-vis paint.
Hamilton may be vaguely in the mix but complains: "We're bouncing a lot." Clearly, the latest upgrades haven't removed the porpoising problem.
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Leclerc has further improved his time to go four tenths clear of the rest on a 1m29.462s - until Sainz improves and goes just 0.081s slower.
Perez is the latest to improve on the mediums, to go fourth and relegate Hamilton down a spot.
After that initial flurry, it's just Perez and Gasly out on track now - in scenes reminiscent of FP1...
Make that no-one now, so more frustration for the huge crowd at Silverstone.
Ah, Bottas is our saviour! The Alfa Romeo is the first one to venture back out on track.
Russell now joins the driver he replaced at Mercedes out on track, and has bolted on the softs after only managing 17th on the hards earlier.
Some interesting work going on down at Ferrari as mechanics appear to be trimming the rear wing of the pacesetting Prancing Horse.
Bottas, meanwhile, puts his soft rubber to good use as he goes sixth, 1s off the pace.
An interested observer is Nico Hulkenberg, the Aston Martin reserve - who was a supersub at Silverstone two years ago - watches on and chats with the marshals.
Russell has now set a time on his softs, but is only seventh - and slower than Bottas and team-mate Hamilton's mediums time.
Bottas improves further on his latest lap to jump above Hamilton and into fifth place. Meanwhile, the Ferraris have now headed out for their soft-tyre runs.
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And wow, we've got a McLaren P1! Norris uses his softs to complete a 1m29.118s to go top.
Down at Mercedes, there's a lot of working going on at the rear of Hamilton's car. This is costing more valuable track time for the home hero.
Russell now sets a better time on his softs to go fourth, but is still 0.7s slower than Norris's incredible soft-tyre time.
And we're halfway through the session now. It certainly goes quicker when there are some cars on track...
Stopwatch
Sainz reclaims top spot for Ferrari - but is only one tenth faster than Norris. That is looking like an increasingly impressive time from the McLaren racer.
Meanwhile, Alonso has gone fourth on his soft tyres. But we have an explanation of Sainz's slightly disappointing time as replays show he ran wide at Copse.
Most drivers have now headed out on the softs, but we're still yet to see just what the Red Bulls can manage, while work continues down in the Mercedes garage on Hamilton's car.
Albon was on a quick lap there until he made a slight mistake through Maggotts and had to back out of the lap.
Gasly has arrived at Silverstone with his 2023 future resolved, but it's not giving him any extra pace as he's down in 18th, the best part of a second slower than team-mate Tsunoda.
Gasly says "he has no grip" and that's contributing to his poor position.
The work is finally finished at Mercedes and Hamilton heads back out on softs, as does his 2021 nemesis Verstappen.
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Latest radio report from Verstappen on the strange noise - "I heard it again," he says when asked by the team about it.
Elsewhere, there are problems with the rear jack on Norris's McLaren as the team battles to put a fresh set of rubber on.
Verstappen has now improved to third, but it still 0.2s down on practice pacesetter Sainz.
And this is something we've not said much this year! Hamilton goes P2 on the soft tyres, 0.163s slower than Sainz, and just fractionally faster than Norris.
Perez is just about the last to set a time on the softs, but only manages seventh. Red Bull not exactly flying here at the moment...
But let's not get too carried away, this is only practice. And practice on a topsy turvy day with teams adopting different approaches.
"Floor is damaged," Vettel is told - he says he "didn't go off or wide anywhere", which means the problem sounds odd. He is currently 15th at Aston's local race.
We're normally into long-run territory at this stage of FP2, but we've got eight cars in the pits as the early weather disruption has put teams's plans up in the air.
Russell is told "no need to manage, you can push it hard", but the eighth-placed Mercedes driver responds saying "no grip". Russell is currently 0.7s slower than his team-mate.
Sure enough, that lack of grip is evidenced by Russell locking up and failing to make the corner at Village.
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Something more encouraging for Russell now as the longer runs continue, as he's told "you're matching Ferrari".
We're now into the final minute of FP2 and there's plenty of action for the fans, but not any late improvers.
Checkered flag
And we've now got the chequered flag. It may not have been the most dramatic of sessions but at least we had plenty of running and some intriguing times.
There was something vaguely dramatic for Hamilton at the end of the session, though, as he reports: "Something might've fallen off the car at Turn 9." And there is indeed a chunk of bodywork that has been dislodged through Copse.
By: autosport.com
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