Free Practice 1 for the 2025 British Grand Prix opened under clear skies at Silverstone, with a warm track surface and a distinctly British atmosphere in the air as three homegrown stars, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, and Lando Norris, prepared to entertain an expectant crowd.
However, it wasn’t just the established names that drew attention.
Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar lit up the timesheets for Racing Bulls in a session that delivered both pace and intrigue, while 16-year-old Arvid Lindblad made his F1 debut in front of his home fans.
The session began with a split in tyre strategies. Most of the grid took to the track on medium tyres, while the Aston Martin’s of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, as well as the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, opted for the harder compound.
Norris was the first to stamp his authority, laying down an early benchmark of 1:28.645 on his first flying lap. Russell quickly responded, beating that time by 0.075s, and the pair traded places as the times began to tumble.
Lawson’s early run was disrupted by debutant Lindblad, who was behind the wheel of Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull. Lawson, clearly unimpressed, radioed in that the young Brit “needs to check his mirrors” after baulking him during a push lap.
Lindblad was finding his feet, reporting “a lot of front locking in low speed,” but steadily built up confidence as the session wore on.
While Lindblad got up to speed, others were already making statements. Hamilton, revelling in the home crowd’s energy, pumped in a 1:28.380 to go quickest in his Ferrari. Oscar Piastri came within 0.039s of that, putting his McLaren second.
Verstappen, running a new floor on his Red Bull, slotted into third, but it was a mixed first hour for the reigning champion, who struggled to hook up all three sectors cleanly.
Norris struck again, dipping into the 1:27s with a 1:27.991, only for Russell to go one better moments later with a 1:27.971. Then, in a sign of what was to come, Lawson jumped up to third with a rapid lap, before teammate Hadjar eclipsed both Racing Bulls with a stunning 1:27.502, just 0.063s faster than Charles Leclerc and almost three tenths up on Lawson.
Both Racing Bulls were on the medium compound at that stage and showing seriously strong pace.
Pierre Gasly provided a moment of drama with a wild 360 spin in his Alpine, but kept it out of the barriers and carried on unscathed. Soon after, Piastri went fastest again with a 1:27.761, but it didn’t last long; Lawson pulled the trigger and delivered a 1:27.676 to take P1 with just under 40 minutes remaining.
Hadjar wasn’t done, and in a fierce intra-team exchange, he fired in a 1:27.502 to reclaim top spot. At this point, the two Racing Bulls were leading the way, with Leclerc slotting in between them and Verstappen not far behind, having just switched to softs.
The soft tyre runs began in earnest from there. Norris returned from a stint in the garage and immediately went quickest with a 1:27.354. That was eclipsed by Piastri, who bettered his teammate by 0.07s.
Leclerc raised the bar further, going top with a 1:27.095 before Hamilton lit up the timesheets again, delivering a 1:26.892 to reclaim P1 with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Hadjar and Lawson both returned to the track for their soft tyre runs. Hadjar initially went fourth, then slipped back to sixth as Russell and Verstappen improved. Lawson wasn’t far off, just 0.036s behind Hadjar, and both Racing Bulls remained inside the top ten.
Lindblad continued to quietly impress. His final run on softs saw him close to within a second of Hamilton’s benchmark and only half a second off Verstappen’s time. For a 16-year-old in his first taste of F1 machinery, it was a composed and credible debut.
As the final runs played out, Gabriel Bortoleto had the session’s most spectacular moment, a wild 720-degree spin onto the grass brought out a brief yellow flag, but he, too, continued without significant issue.
In the final minutes, the top five order remained unchanged: Hamilton, Norris, Piastri, Leclerc and Russell. Behind them, Hadjar held onto sixth, with Albon quietly slotting into seventh ahead of Lawson in eighth. Kimi Antonelli, Russell’s Mercedes teammate, finished ninth, and Verstappen rounded out the top ten after an uncharacteristically muted session.
The final classification reflected an intriguing mix of experience and youth. Hamilton led the way, but the real story was the strength of the Racing Bulls. Both Hadjar and Lawson looked confident, composed, and above all fast, sending a clear message that they intend to be in the mix this weekend.
FP2 will offer a clearer picture of long-run pace and race prep, but after a strong first showing, it’s the new blood and the British heroes giving the Silverstone crowd plenty to cheer about.
Header Image: Clive Rose/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool
