Lewis Hamilton outpaces Mercedes in sole Silverstone F1 practice at British GP, McLaren struggles

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the sole practice session ahead of his home Formula 1 race, the British Grand Prix.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton, who already holds the record for the most British Grand Prix wins, is seeking a record-extending 10th victory at Silverstone this weekend. 

Hamilton was fastest on both the hard and soft tyres and ended up 0.213 seconds quicker than championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes.

2026 F1 Silverstone: Full British GP Friday practice results

Charles Leclerc split the Mercedes duo in third place, but he was nearly six-tenths slower than Ferrari team-mate Hamilton, who gave a packed-out home crowd something to cheer about early on in the weekend. 

George Russell was the second-fastest of the British quintet in fourth, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen in fifth and sixth, with their respective McLaren and Red Bull teams well off the pace of their rivals early on. 

It was a particularly difficult session for McLaren, with Piastri suffering a big spin through the high-speed Becketts sequence, while team-mate and reigning world champion Lando Norris was over a second off the pace in seventh. 

Isack Hadjar, who set the pace early in FP1, ended up eighth-quickest in the second Red Bull, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson, who rounded out the top-10 for Audi and Racing Bulls respectively. 

Hulkenberg managed to anger Lawson by running alongside him through the opening sequence of corners after the German came out of the pit lane. 

“What the **** was that? That’s crazy!” Lawson complained over team radio. 

First practice is a particularly crucial session given that Silverstone is a sprint weekend, meaning the teams and drivers only have a single hour of practice running before going straight into competitive action with sprint qualifying later on Friday. 

Sprint qualifying takes place at 16:30 UK time.