Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in the first free practice session of the British Grand Prix, with his teammate not too far behind.
The British driver set a time of 1:31.654, about three hundredths of a second quicker than Nico Rosberg. The two drivers clashed on the final lap of the Austria Grand Prix last weekend, and will want to beat each other this weekend too.
Nico Hulkenberg surprisingly best of the rest, the German driver being impressive in the practice and qualifying sessions recently. Sebastian Vettel went fourth and the last of the drivers to get within a second of Mercedes. Ferrari used the beginning of the session to test the halo device.
Vettel’s former teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth, while his current teammate Kimi Raikkonen split Ricciardo and Max Verstappen in terms of positions. It could spell a close battle between the two teams on Sunday.
Sergio Perez finished in eighth with a 1:33.235, while the two Spaniards in Formula 1 Carlos Sainz Jr. and Fernando Alonso finished ninth and tenth respectively.
Daniil Kvyat wasn’t too far off his teammate in 11th, while the same can be said for Jenson Button in 12th. Williams will be disappointed to see their drivers 13th and 14th fastest in this session.
Haas gave Esteban Gutierrez’s free practice one outing to Charles Leclerc, who was able to set a time quicker than Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, the two Manor drivers, and Esteban Ocon who was given an outing by Renault.
