Verstappen fastest during FP1 at the British Grand Prix

While Verstappen seemed to have everything under control from the start, his compatriot Nyck de Vries did not start the weekend as he had hoped beforehand. On the track, the grip level was extremely low initially, and the AlphaTauri driver slid off the track into the gravel. The rookie was lucky that his car had not stalled, so he was still able to continue his way.

Verstappen fast on hard tyres

Meanwhile, Verstappen continued to impress. While the championship leader continued to steadily set tremendously fast laps on hard tyres, the others were not getting anywhere. Fernando Alonso was two seconds slower than Verstappen in his fastest lap on hard tyres. The competitors had to put softs on their cars to get anywhere near the reigning champion.

It was Carlos Sainz who finally knocked Verstappen off the lead, although the Spaniard also needed a tyre two compounds softer to do so. Then Charles Leclerc, Sainz's teammate, also managed to go over Verstappen. The Ferrari men were the only ones to pass Verstappen, who eventually drove 17 laps on the hard tyres, in the first 40 minutes of practice.

The moment Verstappen entered the pits, the others managed to increase their speed. Then things moved quickly: even Nyck de Vries on soft tyres was briefly faster than Verstappen twenty minutes before the end. In the closing stages, first Sergio Perez switched to the red tyre. The Red Bull Mexican failed to match the time of (at the time) number one Leclerc. Verstappen managed to do so a little later, also on softs. His 1:28.836 was no less than four-tenths faster than then Leclerc. After a short break, the Dutchman managed to go faster again. Sergio Perez managed to put his Red Bull in second place.

Lewis Hamilton wanted a top result in front of his home crowd, but the Briton had an anonymous first free practice session. The Mercedes driver got no further than a spot in the grey middle distance.