Verstappen and Red Bull set the early Silverstone pace as Albon finishes P3

Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing sent ominous signs to the rest of the grid as the Austrian team takes a 1-2 in FP1 at the British Grand Prix.

The Dutchman consistently set the fastest laps throughout the hour session on all sets of tyres, showcasing the form and pace he's shown throughout this 2023 season. However, the story of free practice goes to British-Thai driver Alex Albon in the Williams, as he set a sensational lap to finish P3 just behind Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez.

In a busy weekend of sports in the UK and around the world, many fans were in the grandstands for FP1 to catch a glimpse of who may have the upper hand around Silverstone this weekend. The British sun blessed Silverstone and its fans for FP1, giving teams and drivers the best weather conditions to collect valuable time and data, especially with the changeable forecasts that might trouble teams tomorrow during qualifying.

Many teams have brought updates to Silverstone, and as it seems to be this season, it was a busy start to free practice, with drivers knocking in laps to get to grips with updates, along with a newly constructed Pirelli tyre.

The circuit and the tyres seemed to have problems early on, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both complaining over the radio that the grip was very poor. Verstappen's Dutch counterpart Nyck de Vries showed the lack of grip too, sliding into the gravel at Luffield, but he managed to keep the car going and not damage his AlphaTauri.

But Verstappen was still able to highlight the dominance that seems to be leading him to a third world title, as he continually set the fastest laps of the session on the hard tyres, with no one else coming close to the Dutchman. Teams then fitted the soft tyres to many cars, and the Ferarri's showcased their continued pace from Austria, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc both setting the early qualifying simulation pace, trading fastest lap times between each other.

But once again, the rapid Red Bull and magic Max were a recipe for success, setting the fastest lap with ten minutes to go in the session by four-tenths, which he held on to until the session's conclusion.