Formula One prepares to celebrate 70 years as teams hit Silverstone for a second consecutive weekend of racing with Friday Practice.
With Pirelli bringing a new soft tyre compound for this weekend, teams found themselves getting to grips with the new compound on top of tyre wear issues.
Racing Point meanwhile hit the headlines early morning as FIA upheld Renault’s protests and subject the team to a combined €400k fine and a 15 point deduction.
FP1
Embed from Getty ImagesA quiet start to the session saw Max Verstappen plus Kimi Raikkonen head out early on, with the latter setting the first representative lap time which was soon passed by both Ferrari cars of Sebastian Vettel then Charles Leclerc.
Several drivers quickly ventured out afterwards with Lewis Hamilton setting the quickest time of a 1m 26.842 from Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas followed by Leclerc, Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg completing the top five after 45 minutes.
Embed from Getty ImagesBottas however would set the quickest FP1 time of a 1m 26.166 just five minutes later, leaving Hamilton 0.138s down in second as Verstappen, Hulkenberg and Leclerc rounded out the top five.
McLaren struggled to get on top of the new soft tyre as Lando Norris only set the 12th fastest time in FP1 ahead of Carlos Sainz in 14th, as George Russell of Williams was just 0.032s short of Sainz’s best lap time.
FP2
Embed from Getty ImagesFP2 endured a slower start with no cars venturing out in the opening five minutes until the Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean headed out on medium tyres.
Magnussen would set the first representative lap time of a 1m 28.097 but times soon tumbled with Bottas setting a 1m 25.917 in the 20th minute to go fastest.
Norris and Sainz went third and fifth respectively on their first flying laps on the soft tyre, until Hamilton went quickest minutes later with a 1m 25.911 on softs to better Bottas’ effort by 0.006s.
Daniel Ricciardo meanwhile climbed from 15th position to sixth on hard tyres with a 1m 27.057 for Renault ahead of the Qualifying simulations.
Bottas initially went quickest on his quali simulation with a 1m 25.782 as Vettel struggled to ninth on his attempt, whilst Leclerc improved to sixth with his soft quali simulation effort.
Embed from Getty ImagesHamilton however went even quicker with a 1m 25.606 as he topped the timesheet from Bottas and Ricciardo, who edged out Verstappen by 0.016s with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll a further 0.064s slower than the Dutchman.
Hulkenberg, Leclerc, Norris, Sainz and Esteban Ocon completed the top ten as Albon struggled to the 11th quickest time, whilst Vettel could only muster the 14th quickest effort.
Race simulations saw drivers struggle with blistering on rear tyres whilst Hulkenberg suffered with a loose seat, prior to Vettel suffering a power unit failure to leave oil on track towards Copse.
Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi however brought the session to a premature end with two minutes left, when he grinded to a halt on entry to Maggots with a technical issue.
Results
FP1
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m 26.166 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.138 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.727 |
| 4 | Nico Hulkenberg | Racing Point | + 0.776 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.896 |
| 6 | Alex Albon | Red Bull | + 1.114 |
| 7 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | + 1.332 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | + 1.373 |
| 9 | Daniil Kvyat | Alpha Tauri | + 1.487 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | + 1.535 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Alpha Tauri | + 1.541 |
| 12 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.680 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | + 1.742 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | + 1.972 |
| 15 | George Russell | Williams | + 2.004 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 2.060 |
| 17 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | + 2.345 |
| 18 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | + 2.489 |
| 19 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo | + 2.794 |
| 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 3.153 |
FP2
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m 25.606 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 0.176 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | + 0.815 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.831 |
| 5 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | + 0.895 |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Racing Point | + 1.140 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 1.206 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.261 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | + 1.312 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | + 1.322 |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Red Bull | + 1.354 |
| 12 | Daniil Kvyat | Alpha Tauri | + 1.396 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Alpha Tauri | + 1.522 |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | + 1.592 |
| 15 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | + 1.688 |
| 16 | George Russell | Williams | + 1.714 |
| 17 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | + 1.929 |
| 18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.976 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 2.077 |
| 20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 2.349 |
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