Lewis Hamilton led the opening practice session at Silverstone for Ferrari, as he did 12 months ago.
However his quickest time in the SF-26 was over two seconds slowe rthan his best last year.
It was enough to put him two-tenths of a second clear of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, however. Hamilton set his time a few minutes after the Mercedes driver, both on the soft rubber, and found a significant amount of time in the final sector.
Their team mates came next, albeit some way in arrears. Charles Leclerc was almost six-tenths of a second slower than Hamilton, while George Russell was only slightly closer to Antonelli.
Oscar Piastri took fifth for McLaren despite suffering a high-speed spin in Becketts towards the end of his run on hard tyres. He kept his specially-liveried McLaren out of the barriers and rejoined.
Max Verstappen flashed past the scene of Piastri’s spin and was noted for potentially failing to observe the yellow flags. He ended up the best part of a second down on Hamilton’s time, narrowly ahead of Lando Norris and Isack Hadjar.
Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson completed the top 10 but the Racing Bulls driver was not at all impressed when his rival came out of the pits and held him up through the Village complex. The stewards looked into the incident but took no action.
All of the 22 drivers managed to complete a useful number of laps in the only practice session of the weekend. However Arvid Lindblad warned Racing Bulls he suspected all was not well with his power unit as he returned to the pits.
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2026 British Grand Prix first practice result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | SF-26 | 1’29.260 | |
| 2 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | W17 | 1’29.473 | 0.213 |
| 3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-26 | 1’29.859 | 0.599 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W17 | 1’29.938 | 0.678 |
| 5 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL40 | 1’30.147 | 0.887 |
| 6 | 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Red Bull-Ford | RB22 | 1’30.240 | 0.980 |
| 7 | 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL40 | 1’30.288 | 1.028 |
| 8 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull-Red Bull-Ford | RB22 | 1’30.338 | 1.078 |
| 9 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | R26 | 1’30.743 | 1.483 |
| 10 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls-Red Bull-Ford | 03 | 1’30.850 | 1.590 |
| 11 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine-Mercedes | A526 | 1’30.966 | 1.706 |
| 12 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | R26 | 1’31.035 | 1.775 |
| 13 | 41 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls-Red Bull-Ford | 03 | 1’31.339 | 2.079 |
| 14 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas-Ferrari | VF-26 | 1’31.373 | 2.113 |
| 15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Williams-Mercedes | FW48 | 1’31.684 | 2.424 |
| 16 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas-Ferrari | VF-26 | 1’31.684 | 2.424 |
| 17 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW48 | 1’31.697 | 2.437 |
| 18 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac-Ferrari | MAC-26 | 1’32.150 | 2.890 |
| 19 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac-Ferrari | MAC-26 | 1’32.241 | 2.981 |
| 20 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Honda | AMR26 | 1’32.957 | 3.697 |
| 21 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Mercedes | A526 | 1’33.019 | 3.759 |
| 22 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Honda | AMR26 | 1’33.130 | 3.870 |
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2026 British Grand Prix
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Published by
Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine