Analysis: What we learned in Friday practice for the F1 British GP

There was something in the air on the opening day of the British Grand Prix weekend: an exuberance that led to eastward lashings of wind. Having energised the myriad rippling flags lining the Silverstone grandstands, the gusts also caused a few problems for the drivers. 

Carlos Sainz's languid quarter-spin at Woodcote provided the culmination of the breezy conditions in Northamptonshire. On the exit of Luffield, the Williams cocked a leg over the kerb and put itself out of kilter - almost going into the back of Lewis Hamilton. Although the drivers managed to thread the line thereafter, the wind hardly made it easy to corral the cars over a full lap of the high-speed Silverstone circuit.

"It spiced things up a bit, especially with so many high-speed corners here," championship leader Oscar Piastri reckoned. "You really feel it a lot, so that was making things pretty tough."

By the end of FP2, Lando Norris had managed the wind best. The only person to get into the 1m25s across the course of the soft-tyre tours, the McLaren driver aimed to set tongues wagging among his plethora of home fans - and duly beat the two Ferraris to make that happen.

Compatriot Hamilton, who was fastest in FP1, initially got closest having aborted an opening run with a set of C4 softs to secure a 1m26.117s. This was 0.3s down on Norris' 1m25.816s benchmark. Charles Leclerc then broke the British duopoly with a 1m26.038s to pick up from where he'd left off in Austria; Ferrari showed encouraging pace and set an early claim for best-of-the-rest behind McLaren. 

That being said, Piastri hadn't quite got into the rhythm around the Silverstone course. He'd trailed Norris in both FP1 and FP2; the opening session's margin was only very slender, but a larger 0.47s margin had emerged by the close of the second hour of running. Let's assume that was the wind's capricious nature, as a couple of oversteering snaps could easily contribute to the bulk of that deficit.

Although conditions were hot at Silverstone, high gusts of wind presented an extra challenge for drivers on Friday

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images

Max Verstappen and the Mercedes duo also seemed to be beset by struggle over one lap. Amid the continued innuendo surrounding Verstappen's contract and Mercedes' interest, the two parties were largely marooned together between the theoretical front two rows and the midfield. That being said, Mercedes set its soft tyre runs much earlier into the session, while Verstappen did his later; thus, it's not unfathomable that there was more to come from the Silver Arrows. While conditions pushed 24C by the end of FP2, the track temperatures did not get too close to Mercedes' danger zone; they stayed at a relatively stable 38C through the Friday sessions.

Long run analysis

Verstappen took a dim view of the outright performance in his Red Bull over practice, particularly with understeer through the high-speed corners. He felt he wasn't able to tackle the myriad flat-out bends around Silverstone with the usual vim, noting that "personally it was quite a bad day, just no balance in the car, it's a very difficult corner to corner as well”.

But there's a silver lining, as Red Bull's race pace didn't look too bad at first glance. The danger of reading too much into the Dutchman's longer runs lies in the fact that he didn't turn that many laps - although his sample size was at least comparable with the McLarens over the course of practice.

"It's been pretty incredible. Red Bull and McLaren had an upgrade so, for us to be in the mix still, given that they've had a step today, it's really positive. I'm progressing a lot now with the car and much more comfortable knowing where it needs to be" Lewis Hamilton

Christian Horner thought as much when speaking to Sky after the session, stating that the performance runs formed the main creases that Red Bull needed to iron. "The long runs, if you look at the times, look pretty sensible," he stated. "I think we've got something we can work with, we've just got to make sure we tune it overnight the right way."

Average medium-tyre long run times 

*Haas not included; long runs exclusively run on C2 (hard) tyre

However, Norris was significantly more happy with his runs in FP2, suggesting that McLaren was running with a lot less engine mode to preserve the Mercedes power units in the back. "It looks maybe a bit too good today," Norris noted; perhaps the two had their performance runs in mind rather than the longer stints, but it must be noted that their pace on the medium tyre was not worlds apart.

Norris was keen to point towards Ferrari's pace so far this weekend, and felt that McLaren had work to do in order to retain position over the "very, very quick" SF-25s. Indeed, per our calculation of the long-run averages on medium tyres, Leclerc slotted between Verstappen and Norris - more impressively, with a longer stint on the yellow-walled tyres. 

Ferrari has arguably emerged as McLaren's biggest threat this weekend

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images

Hamilton, too, was pleased. And this was a rarity; having flitted between driven and downbeat this year, there was a sense of contentment following Friday's opening couple of hours.

"It's been pretty incredible," Hamilton reckoned. "Red Bull and McLaren had an upgrade so, for us to be in the mix still, given that they've had a step today, it's really positive.

"I'm progressing a lot now with the car and much more comfortable knowing where it needs to be. I think by P2, we still weren't where we needed to be. So in P2, definitely struggled a little bit more, but we know the changes that we need to make for the next session."

The nine-time British Grand Prix winner noted that rain was forecast over the rest of the weekend which, if it does appear, will change the shape of the weekend dramatically. Forecasts do predict a sprinkling of rain over Saturday and Sunday, but the rain itself shouldn't be intense. Instead, it's the expected cooler temperatures which will change the formbook as Mercedes looks to inch its way back into the weekend.

Neither Russell nor Antonelli really showed much on the longer runs, other than a demonstrable advantage over the midfield. Russell's 13-lap stint was the longest of the ‘Big Four’, although paled against Leclerc's stint - this being said, Russell did not push to the same extent in the opening five laps of his stint versus Leclerc, who reeled off a 1m30s-plus time between two times in the 1m31s on his run on mediums. There's still a lot more to see over FP3, especially if the conditions change - so watch this space.

On the subject of the midfield, Sauber again looked impressive as it has seemingly tapped into a rich vein of performance gains with its floor. The Swiss outfit, through Nico Hulkenberg (who missed FP1 for Estonian debutant Paul Aron), put together a sequence of medium-tyre times that were just a smidgen stronger on average than the Williams of Alex Albon - although the Anglo-Thai had strung together a run that was three laps longer.

Sauber looks to be leading the midfield this weekend

Photo by: Andy Hone / LAT Images via Getty Images

Racing Bulls showed strong qualifying pace and should be just behind them, although may have Aston Martin for company as the local outfit looks to find more performance with its newly-minted floor updates.

Although Alonso's average was better, it's important to note that, when running on track at the same time as Lawson, the Kiwi was actually faster and that the bulk of his slower average time came in the earlier laps of his stint. One imagines that Racing Bulls will possess a small advantage over the AMR25s, as it stands.

Haas is an unknown on the medium, having focused on hard-tyre running through the session, while Alpine only has Colapinto's medium stint to represent its pace. The French squad has been keen to point out that it had jacked in development a while back to focus on 2026, and it feels that it has fallen some way adrift of the rest of the pack. A handy qualifying lap can be dug out of it, but the car tends to fade in the races - like a Polaroid snapshot of past glories left out in the rain. 

Speaking of rain - the preceding 1000-odd words could be rendered useless should the British summer bequeath its usual party trick of surprise precipitation. And, if that's the case...it's anyone's game.

Will rain mix things up at Silverstone?

Photo by: Erik Junius