McLaren’s Lando Norris ended Friday practice on top at the British Grand Prix, while Ferrari remain a threat.

Lewis Hamilton had a scare on his way to a top three result though, having narrowly escaped becoming an innocent casualty of Carlos Sainz’s spin. Charles Leclerc slotted into P2.

British GP: Lando Norris sets FP2 pace as Ferrari lurk

Yuki Tsunoda was back in the Red Bull and Nico Hulkenberg returned to the Sauber cockpit for FP2, having sat out the opening session for Arvid Lindblad and Paul Aron respectively, who both made their F1 debut in the opening Silverstone practice session.

Lance Stroll meanwhile joined Fernando Alonso in running the upgraded Aston Martin AMR25, Alonso having done that solo earlier in the day.

Hamilton topped FP1 in front of his home crowd and wasted no time returning to top spot, his 1:27.280 on the medium Pirelli tyres the time to chase.

Liam Lawson – in his efforts to do so – was left furious with Oliver Bearman at Luffield, as the stewards noted a potential case of impeding.

Hamilton unlocked a further three-tenths to remain atop the pile as the pace ramped up, while Racing Bulls continued to look strong in their special British GP livery, Isack Hadjar in the top three, 0.16s down on Hamilton.

Verstappen was not in such a good spot as he lamented that the front tyres “don’t respond” in the high speed, while Carlos Sainz so nearly collected Hamilton as he went spinning out of Luffield. Sainz’s attempt to right his Williams caught the attention of the stewards, having shot forward right in front of Hulkemberg, forcing him into evasive action.

As Leclerc helped himself to P1, Hamilton’s continued participation saw him retaliate, putting three-tenths between he and Leclerc, the nine-time British Grand Prix winner strutting his stuff.

F1 2025 head-to-head standings

???? F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

???? F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were the first to bolt on soft tyres, as the qualifying simulations began.

Despite a big snap of oversteer out of the final chicane, Antonelli was still able to pip Russell and hit P1, clocking a 1:26.383, while Hadjar continued to shine with the switch to softs, returning to P3, 0.141s down.

Now we would see how Ferrari responded with the soft rubber, and it was not emphatic. Leclerc went P1, but Antonelli was within two-tenths, while Hamilton aborted.

Piastri took his shot at Leclerc, falling 0.084s short, as Leclerc jumped on the radio to suggest that there was “so much lap time” in Ferrari’s ability to solve an issue on the front left.

And they need to find that time, as Norris uncorked a trio of purple sectors to go almost four-tenths faster on a 1:25.816. Verstappen had a deficit of eight-tenths to address.

Hamilton got his lap in next time around, reducing Norris’ lead to three-tenths. Make that two-tenths after Leclerc’s latest effort.

Verstappen unlocked a fresh chunk of pace from his Red Bull, but the gap to Norris still came in at half a second.

From there the race simulations took effect, as Norris secured P1 and the momentum going into qualifying day. Leclerc and Hamilton completed the top three, bringing a positive Friday for Ferrari to a close.

2025 British Grand Prix FP2 timesheet

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:25.816
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.222
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.301
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.470
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.498
6 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.567
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.614
8 George Russell Mercedes +0.707
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.708
10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +0.808
11 Alexander Albon Williams +1.024
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1.060
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber +1.088
14 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +1.125
15 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing +1.164
16 Carlos Sainz Williams +1.343
17 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber +1.349
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.358
19 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team +1.410
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1.473

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