F1 British GP: Hamilton beats Antonelli to top Silverstone practice

Lewis Hamilton made a brilliant start to his British Grand Prix weekend as the seven-time Formula 1 world champion went fastest in practice.

The Ferrari driver set a 1m29.260s on the soft tyre, 0.213s quicker than his Mercedes successor and championship leader Kimi Antonelli - who had led much of the running.

There was action from the start as it was the only practice session of this sprint weekend, as teams rushed out of the pitlane with hards being the compound of choice early on.

It led to the lead changing hands multiple times as drivers continuously racked up the lap counts with fuel loads decreasing and the hot 49C Silverstone track evolving.

Come the halfway mark, Antonelli had the pace with a 1m30.777s, just 0.192s quicker than Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and 0.209s faster than team-mate and title rival George Russell.

If the contentious ADUO [Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities] results are anything to go by then Red Bull and Mercedes occupying the top three times was to be expected, as the Northamptonshire track is incredibly sensitive on power.

That was a huge talking point on Thursday, and with those times being four seconds off Hamilton’s FP1 benchmark from 2025, it showed how much top speed was sacrificed to reduce superclipping.

But it was still early and the Ferrari driver did sneak in a 1m30.521s on the hard tyre, 0.256s quicker than Antonelli, just as Oscar Piastri had a spin between Becketts and Chapel with 25 minutes remaining.

Watch: Mercedes vs Ferrari, On and Off Track | 2026 British GP Friday

The real action came when teams performed their soft tyre runs across the final 10 minutes though, which saw the Mercedes pair become the first to break the 1m30s barrier.

It was led by Antonelli on 1m29.473s, a whopping 0.465s quicker than Russell who had Charles Leclerc just a tenth behind. However, his Ferrari team-mate Hamilton went quickest with six minutes left.

The seven-time world champion set a 1m29.260s in front of his home crowd and that lap time subsequently went unchallenged, as Antonelli spent the remaining minutes in his garage.

Leclerc did the opposite, however, as the Monegasque snatched third late on with a 1m29.859s that put him just less than a tenth ahead of fourth-placed Russell on a 1m29.938s.

Piastri rounded out the top five with a 1m30.147s, a tenth quicker than sixth-placed Max Verstappen for Red Bull. The McLaren driver’s team-mate Lando Norris took seventh.

The reigning world champion set a 1m30.288s, 0.050s quicker than eighth-placed Hadjar, while best of the rest went to Audi driver Nico Hulkenberg who is still looking for his first point of 2026.

Hulkenberg set a 1m30.743s, his fastest time coming on the medium tyre, putting him ahead of Racing Bulls man Liam Lawson, who completed the top 10 on a 1m30.850s, also on mediums.

F1 British GP: FP1 results 

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	32	1'29.260		S	237.593
2	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	29	+0.213 1'29.473	0.213	S	237.027
3	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	31	+0.599 1'29.859	0.386	S	236.009
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	31	+0.678 1'29.938	0.079	S	235.802
5	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	25	+0.887 1'30.147	0.209	S	235.255
6	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3		Red Bull	Red Bull	27	+0.980 1'30.240	0.093	S	235.013
7	L. Norris McLaren	1		McLaren	Mercedes	27	+1.028 1'30.288	0.048	S	234.888
8	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6		Red Bull	Red Bull	28	+1.078 1'30.338	0.050	S	234.758
9	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27		Audi	Audi	29	+1.483 1'30.743	0.405	M	233.710
10	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30		RB	Red Bull	28	+1.590 1'30.850	0.107	M	233.435
11	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Mercedes	28	+1.706 1'30.966	0.116	M	233.137
12	G. Bortoleto Audi	5		Audi	Audi	28	+1.775 1'31.035	0.069	M	232.960
13	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41		RB	Red Bull	32	+2.079 1'31.339	0.304	M	232.185
14	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	27	+2.113 1'31.373	0.034	S	232.099
15	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	33	+2.424 1'31.684	0.311	S	231.311
16	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	27	+2.424 1'31.684	0.000	S	231.311
17	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	30	+2.437 1'31.697	0.013	S	231.279
18	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77		Cadillac	Ferrari	22	+2.890 1'32.150	0.453	M	230.142
19	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11		Cadillac	Ferrari	23	+2.981 1'32.241	0.091	M	229.915
20	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Honda	25	+3.697 1'32.957	0.716	M	228.144
21	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Mercedes	25	+3.759 1'33.019	0.062	M	227.992
22	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Honda	26	+3.870 1'33.130	0.111	M	227.720
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