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Formula 1
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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Red flag
Red flag! Stroll has come off at Copse!
Pedal cam alert! For the first time in forever, F1 is trying out a camera focused on the car pedals, with Norris the guinea pig today.
Now there's a stampede at pit exit with the majority of drivers heading out for a late blast on soft tyres. That should mean the timing screen will chop and change all the way to the finish.
Stopwatch
Bottas, on the inters, goes top with a 1m42.249s.
Hamilton duly pits for the softs, while both Ferraris and Bottas nip out for the final six minutes of FP1.
Quote
"Can you get those hard tyres ready for me," Hamilton says over team radio. "It'll be soft tyres," affirms his race engineer Peter Bonnington.
Stopwatch
Hamilton's 1m49.476s puts him up to seventh, and now the sun is out and everything!
It might be wet but Hamilton goes for another lap! Driver of the day material, this.
Hamilton, the crowd pleaser today, heads back out on track to disrupt our time filling.
While we wait for something, anything, to happen, here's a look at the upgrades Mercedes is trying out:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mercedes-reveals-extent-of-f1-upgrades-for-british-gp/10330926/
Still no drivers back out on track with the rain returning intermittently, while Alonso appears to be napping in his Alpine.
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It's gon' rain
Hamilton, clearly bored of sitting in the garage, nips out across pitlane to wave at the crowd. They wave back with soggy umbrellas and rain ponchos.
Our grand prix editor/budding weather reporter Alex Kalinauckas is trackside and says it is spitting again at Village. I hope he means with rain.
At least nobody should end up short on spare parts after today.
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There's currently no cars on track, mostly due to these in between conditions, literally, in between each track sector. Time to grab a cuppa.
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Bottas improves to go up to second with a 1m43.437s. It is probably also fair to say drivers won't be pushing too hard in these conditions in FP1 given not much to gain and a lot to lose - not least those running new parts.
Hamilton heads back out for Mercedes, still on the inters due to the wet section of the track between Brooklands and Copse, which means the outright lap times won't be challenged for now.
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Stopwatch
Zhou, on inters, goes third fastest with a 1m46.171s with his first timed effort before Bottas is quick to beat him with a 1m46.056s.
Sun
To demonstrate Sainz's point, a mix of heat haze and water vapour is drifting off the drying circuit on the infield section. It won't be long until dry tyres are called for.
Stopwatch
Sainz now goes top with a 1m42.967s, 0.8s up Leclerc's earlier effort, so that's a positive sign. "It's getting dry very quickly so I will box," the Spaniard says over team radio.
Stopwatch
Sainz slots into second with a 1m49.000s - a mere 5.1s off Ferrari team-mate Leclerc who set his lap time before the rain properly arrived.
17 out of the 20 drivers have been on track at some point in this session - just missing Zhou, Schumacher and Bottas - but the majority are waiting for conditions to improve, as the sun briefly threatens to shine.
Stopwatch
Both Aston Martins are also in the action too, with Stroll going second with a 1m51.243s and Vettel into fourth with a 1m59.168s.
Stopwatch
Back to F1, and Tsunoda has put lap time up. A modest 1m51.373s reflects the conditions rather than the AlphaTauri's outright pace.
If this was cricket, the umpires would be calling for an early lunch. Which, up the road from Silverstone at Edgbaston, that exact thing is happening after a good morning for Jimmy and England.
Rain
The weather forecasters are confident it'll dry up fo the rest of the day, but tell that to the mechanics standing in the pitlane. The Alpine team get a soaking while collecting Alonso back into the garage.
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Stopwatch
Leclerc is the only driver to put a lap time on the board, putting up a best effort of 1m43.801s, as Perez, Ocon and Alonso head out to explore the track.
At Copse it looks like drivers would need extreme wet tyres, but by the time they get to Stowe it is good enough for dry tyres. Not classic Silverstone, peak Silverstone!
Hamilton, Russell and Sainz opted for an installation lap and pitted, but Leclerc is a trooper by going for another tour of Silverstone.
Both Ferrari drivers also head out in the rain for a first examination of the circuit. It is very wet from Brooklands to Copse but then still dry for the rest of the lap. Classic Silverstone.
The Mercedes drivers are greeted by huge cheers and applause from the fans as they go side-by-side down the Wellington straight. That'll make for a nice picture, at least.
Lights green
Here we go! Hamilton and Russell out on track immediately and both on intermediate tyres.
The rain won't mean a delay to FP1, it isn't flood levels yet, but it probably means limited running in the session with the rest of the weekend forecast to be largely dry. But it is Silverstone, where rain can strike at any moment.
And just like that, the rain arrives on cue for the start of the session. That'll be bad news for teams with lots of new parts and pieces to try out.
Rain
With just under five minutes to go until first practice, there's a certain chance of rain. Or 100%, if you are the race control updates.
By: autosport.com
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