Verstappen shows the way in final session: British GP practice round-up

Alfa Romeo’s Finn – who recently said he felt more comfortable in the C42 than he ever did in a Mercedes – then demonstrated the potential of the driver and car package by going second, four tenths away from Sainz.

Haas’ Mick Schumacher, still looking for a points finish this season, managed to go fourth-fastest on a 1min 43.895sec.

The lack of on-track action was illustrated by Hamilton going out wave to the fans from the pitwall with 20 minutes left.

The seven-time did get back on the circuit ten minutes later though, immediately improving on Sainz’s first sector before backing off as he tested the team’s new upgrades.

With just under five minutes to go Bottas hit the top with a 1min 42.249sec as more and more cars came out to get some precious laps in on an improving track.

Hamilton then fitted soft tyres to sample the car at its correct ride height – wet tyres lift the car higher – and immediately went second, 0.5sec off his former team-mate.

The session was then red-flagged with one minute to as Stroll span off, red flagging the session and bringing it to an early close.

Results from a rain-disrupted first practice session 👀#BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/BM1Y8Nzwl5

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 1, 2022

FP2

Conditions were much improved for FP2, as many of the front-runners got out early.

Charles Leclerc was the first pacesetter on 1min 30.786sec, but this was bested quickly by 0.8sec by his team-mate Carlos Sainz, with more times coming in quickly.

The Monegasque then improved to a 1min 29.639sec as the Ferraris continued to look on the pace.

Max Verstappen meanwhile was in third, but apparently unhappy with a noise on the underside of his RB18.

“This sound is still here, I don’t know what it is, something is just touching,” said the Dutchman.

He didn’t seem too badly affected, then going second, 0.25sec off Leclerc – though this soon increased to four tenths as the Ferrari went quicker again.

The Mercedes looked to have more of a handle on its porpoising on the smooth Silverstone surface, but Hamilton was just under a second away from the top time.

Alex Albon’s Williams appeared solid with its new upgrades, the Grove car sitting 12th, 1.8sec off Leclerc as the halfway mark loomed.

Home hero Lando Norris then gave the fans what they wanted: the McLaren driver went fastest as he posted a 1min 29.118sec on a set of soft tyres.

Sainz then bested Norris by tenth, going off-track as he did so at Copse, but his time still stood. Fernando Alonso slotted his Alpine into fourth as went 0.6 slower than Sainz, with Russell a further tenth back.

“I don’t know what’s going on, I have no grip,” said complained Pierre Gasly, and there were troubles at Red Bull too, with both cars in the pits.

Verstappen had damaged a lefthand winglet on his RB18, whilst Perez’s updated sidepods were being taken apart for inspection.

McLaren were also having issues, with Norris’s car hitting the ground in the pitlane when the rear jack failed, minus his rear wheels.

The soft tyres offered this weekend were the hard compound in Canada (C3), and it showed with Hamilton taking two warm-up laps to heat his Pirellis on a run with 15 minutes to go.

It did the trick though, with the Mercedes going second, 0.163sec off Sainz.

Vettel was pushed into the garage with floor damage, whilst others went for long runs.

Russell was told by his team he was matching the Ferraris on pace, with Norris also looking good on the hard tyres.

Hamilton had a slightly eventful end to the session as an aerodynamic element fell off his car after a ride over the kerbs exiting Copse, but the table remained the same – Sainz led in an FP session for the first time since Australia, Hamilton was second with Norris third.

FP2 CLASSIFICATION

1. Sainz
2. Hamilton
3. Norris #BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/22sWCoPk07

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 1, 2022

FP3

With running relatively limited yesterday, several cars got out early to accrue track time.

The two Alpines clocked laps, with Ocon ahead on a 1min 33.068sec and Alonso 1.5sec behind – both sampling the soft tyre.

It wasn’t long before more representative laps were put in – Leclerc hit the top with a 1min 29.452sec and Sainz 0.3sec off his team-mate.

Perez inserted himself in between the Ferraris, just 0.1sec away from top of the monitors, before Hamilton continued Mercedes’ promising pace to go 0.3sec off the Monegasque.

Russell then went 0.018sec faster than his team-mate, as warnings of a rain shower came in.

As a result drivers began getting as many soft tyre runs in as possible before the weather closed in, and Verstappen shot to the top of the table with a 1min 28.541sec.

The rain held off though, and Hamilton duly came in second-fastest, 0.2sec off the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen then improved to a 1min 28.386sec, but so did Hamilton to within a tenth, the two trading times at the sharp end.

Vettel had to go off track to get out of Gasly’s way, as the German asked his Aston Martin team to give him more warning next time.

Alonso was impressing as the best of the rest outside the big three, albeit 1.1sec off Verstappen, whilst Perez reported raindrops on his visor.

The changeable weather continued though, as the sun came out from behind the clouds to illuminate a fast lap from Russell, who moved up to the third on a 1min 28.550sec, while Leclerc then went second, 0.002sec off the top.

Very soon Verstappen showed the field who was in control – he posted a 1min 29.901sec, 0.4sec faster than anyone else.

Perez attempted to improve, but was only just quicker than Leclerc, four tenths off his team-mate.

Verstappen was continuing to pump in competitive lap times on the same set of tyres, showing the durability of the soft compound, as the order remained largely the same for the rest of the session.

How we finished for FP3 with Max topping the charts ⏱️

Qualifying is on the way shortly 🙌#BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/mirUZ91psh

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 2, 2022