13:01
Alonso is the first driver to move off the hard tyres, and puts on the softs. On a positive, Aston Martin appear to be on the pace of Cadillac this weekend, which hasn't always been the case of late.
Silverstone
© XPB Images
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F1 Silverstone LIVE: Practice underway at British GP sprint weekend
Live coverage of Friday at the F1 British Grand Prix
KEY MOMENTS
- Drivers divided over Lego parade lap
- Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren bring upgrades; Mercedes does not
- Super-clipping expected to be a major issue
The ninth round of the 2026 Formula 1 season takes place at the British Grand Prix.
Silverstone hosted the first official F1 Grand Prix in 1950 and continues to be a firm favourite of both drivers and fans in the modern era.
However, drivers have been open about their fears that a lack of heavy braking zones around the typically high-speed layout could result in drivers coasting through iconic corners like Maggots and Becketts in order to recharge their batteries, rather than testing the absolute limits of grip. Super-clipping has not been an issue of late, but Silverstone was always earmarked as one of the most energy-starved venues on the calendar.
A bizarre dispute is also taking place in regard to Sunday's parade lap, which will take place in Lego go-karts, with each driver having their own vehicle. Whilst some are all for it and are eager to get going, such as Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas, there are others who are less excited about the prospect, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both voicing concern, and the former suggesting he does not intend to take part.
Fresh off the back of his victory at the Red Bull Ring, George Russell is keen to add to his points haul with a first win on home soil, following Hamilton and Lando Norris, who have raised the British flag on the podium for the last two years.
The weekend sees the return of the Sprint Race format, meaning that a single practice session will take place before Sprint Qualifying on Friday. Saturday will see the Sprint Race contested first, before normal programming is resumed, with Qualifying. The Grand Prix will start at 3pm BST on Sunday.
2026 British Grand Prix Friday schedule
FP1 12:30pm BST - 1:30pm BST
Sprint Qualifying: 4:30pm BST - 5:14pm BST
03 Jul 2026
12:56
Speaking about the potential for the weekend, Zak Brown claims that McLaren is 'not where we want to be' at present, but he expects to be back to winning ways before the summer break with additional parts that are in the pipeline.
12:54
Antonelli moves back to the top before pitting, with a 1m30.777s. Hamilton climbs back up to fourth after being caught out by a gust at Turn 3.
At the rear of the order, Alonso and Stroll continue for Aston Martin.
12:50
Russell moves up to P3 and this is extremely tight, with just 0.017s separating the top three.
12:47
After their initial efforts, drivers are beginning to return to the pits for setup changes and early debriefs.
12:46
Top 10
15 minutes into the session, here is the top 10:
- Hadjar
- Antonelli
- Verstappen
- Piastri
- Leclerc
- Hamilton
- Noris
- Lawson
- Russell
- Bortoleto
12:44
Red Bull appears to have some solid pace so far, with Hadjar going fastest with a 1m30.969s. Verstappen has just dropped to third place, after Antonelli went 0.007s slower than Hadjar.
12:41
On-board audio doesn't paint a pretty picture, with the cars sounding like they're at half throttle on every straight.
12:38
Stop the count! A British 1-2 with Hamilton fastest on a 1m31.877s, while Russell is in P2.
Verstappen goes fourth with his first effort, but is quickly displaced by Leclerc.
12:36
Hard tyres are in evidence all around, and Antonelli has pushed down the bar to a 1m32.579s. As ever, these times will continue to fall, although we will go through a period of long runs in this session.
12:35
Here comes Verstappen. The entire field is now on the track.
12:34
Hulkenberg sets the early pace, besting Hamilton's first time. The German bagged his career first F1 podium last year, and a repeat would be just as big a shock this term.
12:33
Norris and Piastri are both on the track in their special-liveried McLaren. The car features a look based on the 1966 McLaren - and it's glorious.
McLaren's 2026 British GP livery
© McLaren
12:31
Green flag
The session begins, and Hamilton is the first driver out on the track. The fans applaud the home hero from the packed grandstands.
Wasting no time, the rest of the field is steadily filing out.
12:28
A couple of minutes before the session starts, and Hamilton is already at the end of the pit lane, waiting.
12:24
Here we go. The timing screen is live, and the cars are about to appear for the first time this weekend.
12:18
Less than 15 minutes to go now, and the engines are beginning to fire up. An added complication this weekend is that the track is so long compared to the Red Bull Ring last time out.
That means that the lap counts will be far smaller, further increasing the cost of any mistakes.
12:00
30 minutes to go before practice at Silverstone begins!
11:56
On the Lego cars, if you'll allow me to briefly hold an opinion, the Miami parade lap was great viewing, with every single driver laughing out loud and seeming to love the experience.
Now that all 22 drivers have their own karts, there is the option to either hang back and avoid the carnage while treating the lap as a regular version - waving to the fans - or fully engage in it.
The fans loved the Lego cars before, and this will be no different. It's a little like if you're performing on stage and have to do something silly. If you engage and go for it with all you have, it becomes brilliant. But if you don't commit, you do end up looking peculiar.
My advice would be to just have fun. Any one of the 500,000+ fans expected to attend across the weekend would gladly swap seats with you, so stop being sour.
I'll get back into my lane now!
11:48
Inside the F1 pay row that risked Lewis Hamilton pulling out of Silverstone Lego race
Inside the F1 pay row that risked Lewis Hamilton pulling out of Silverstone Lego race
A behind-the-scenes Formula 1 pay row saw Lewis Hamilton threaten to pull out of the Lego drivers’ parade ahead of Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
F1’s stars including Hamilton expressed financial reservations about appearing in the sponsors’ race, which was announced on the eve of the British Grand Prix weekend on Thursday, according to a report by The Telegraph.
Lego cars will once again feature ahead of an F1 race
11:39
Top F1 teams bar one bring developments to Silverstone as British GP upgrades revealed
Top F1 teams bar one bring developments to Silverstone as British GP upgrades revealed
Formula 1’s leading teams have all brought upgrades to this weekend’s British Grand Prix - except Mercedes.
McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari are all introducing new parts to their respective cars amid a relentless development push during the early part of the 2026 F1 season.
Red Bull has revised the rear-end of its RB22
11:36
What is ‘super clipping’? Strange new F1 2026 jargon explained
Let's just get this out of the way and try to forget about it, shall we? Super-clipping.
This is one of four ways the new generation of F1 cars can charge the battery, with the new-for-2026 power units having a near 50/50 split in power produced by the international combustion engine and battery power.
The others methods of energy recovery are regenerative braking, where the motor recovers energy while slowing for a corner, part-throttle overload, where the battery takes power from the engine in parts of the track where the driver does not need to be full throttle, and lift and coast, which is when the driver lifts off before corners so the electric motor can run against the engine.
For a full explainer, click here!
11:33
Good morning!
Good morning and welcome to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. The sun is shining, and we are just one hour away from the start of the weekend's sole practice session.
With energy management expected to be a major problem around the traditionally high-speed layout, and super-clipping set to return in anger, there will be little time to waste.