Verstappen leads Hamilton as engine problem delays Vettel

Max Verstappen set the pace in the first practice session for the British Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver lapped the Silverstone in 1’27.422 on a set of soft tyres. He wasn’t entirely happy with his car’s performance, complaining of a dip in power delivery between Village and The Loop.

He ended the session nearly half a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton, though the Mercedes driver used the harder medium compound to set his best time. Mercedes have replaced the MGU-K in Hamilton’s car, meaning he is now on the second out of a maximum allocation of three, assuming at least 14 races are held this year.

Lance Stroll made it three different cars in the top three. The Racing Point driver ended the session a tenth shy of Hamilton, and half a second ahead of new team mate Nico Hulkenberg.

The former Renault driver has made a surprise return to his former team in place of Sergio Perez, who has been ruled out of the weekend following a positive Covid-19 test. Hulkenberg arrived in the paddock just minutes before the session was due to begin, having been called up by the team yesterday.

Alexander Albon made it two Red Bulls inside the top five, pipping Charles Leclerc. However the second Ferrari was unable to set a time: Sebastian Vettel was confined to his garage after just two laps so the team could strip down his SF1000 to investigate a problem with its intercooler system.

The Renault pair followed sixth-placed Valtteri Bottas, with Hulkenberg ninth ahead of Daniil Kvyat.

Alfa Romeo’s weekend got off to a poor start as both Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi suffered spins. The latter is under investigation by the stewards over his driving at turn 13. Giovinazzi scattered tyre debris across the track after he rejoined, forcing the session to ne temporarily suspended.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda	1’27.422		27
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’27.896	0.474	27
3	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’28.004	0.582	22
4	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull-Honda	1’28.129	0.707	24
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’28.221	0.799	22
6	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1’28.519	1.097	29
7	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	1’28.559	1.137	26
8	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1’28.575	1.153	22
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’28.592	1.170	23
10	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’28.868	1.446	21
11	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’28.909	1.487	24
12	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	McLaren-Renault	1’28.988	1.566	24
13	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	1’28.990	1.568	22
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’29.532	2.110	23
15	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1’29.576	2.154	25
16	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’29.746	2.324	24
17	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1’29.899	2.477	23
18	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’29.925	2.503	17
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1’30.703	3.281	20
20	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari			2

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

First practice visual gaps

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

2020 British Grand Prix

• Racing Point given 15-point deduction and fined £360,000 as stewards uphold Renault protest
• Missed chance to avoid Hamilton’s puncture “a mistake that could have cost us dearly”
• 2020 British Grand Prix Star Performers
• Silverstone restoring Becketts kerb to previous specification following tyre cuts
• Pirelli investigation reveals ‘highest forces ever’ contributed to Silverstone punctures

Browse all 2020 British Grand Prix articles