The first practice session at Silverstone got underway with two fresh faces on the grid. Paul Aron stepped in for Kick Sauber as part of his FP1 programme with Alpine, while Arvid Lindblad made his official Formula 1 debut for Red Bull, taking over from Yuki Tsunoda.

The session began under typically cloudy British skies, with most drivers heading out on the medium tyres. Esteban Ocon led the pack out of the pit lane, and Lewis Hamilton waved to the home crowd as many saw him in Ferrari red for the first time.

Early on, there were a few small incidents. Pierre Gasly had a spin near the end of the lap, and shortly afterwards, Lance Stroll also lost control and ended up off the track. The kerbs, especially around Copse and Stowe, were causing plenty of issues throughout the session.

After around 30 minutes, nearly the entire field was still running on medium tyres. At that stage, Isack Hadjar was quickest, followed closely by Charles Leclerc and Liam Lawson. Gabriel Bortoleto then brought out a short yellow flag after a big spin at Copse, flat-spotting his tyres in the process.

Then came the flying laps. Lewis Hamilton, after struggling with traffic on his first attempt, delivered a sharp lap of 1:26.892. That was enough to push him to the top of the timesheets, where he stayed until the end of the session.

Charles Leclerc had a close call with a spin as well, managing to hold it together, but clearly struggling over the aggressive kerbs.

Esteban Ocon returned to the pits complaining about his brake pedal, saying something didn’t feel quite right. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen wasn’t entirely happy with his car’s handling, saying it wasn’t turning properly in slow corners and felt unpredictable at high speed. Still, he managed to climb to third at one point on the soft tyres before ending the session just inside the top ten.

In the final minutes, most teams shifted focus to race simulations. Hamilton’s time held firm at the top, giving him a strong start to his home Grand Prix weekend. Lando Norris finished second, just 0.023 seconds behind, with Oscar Piastri in third. Charles Leclerc took fourth, followed by George Russell in fifth and Isack Hadjar in sixth.

Alexander Albon continued to impress with seventh for Williams. Liam Lawson ended the session in eighth, just ahead of Kimi Antonelli in ninth. Max Verstappen completed the top ten.

Arvid Lindblad ended his debut session in fourteenth place, just half a second behind Verstappen. Paul Aron placed seventeenth, making him the quicker of the two Sauber drivers. Gabriel Bortoleto, who never managed a proper soft tyre run, finished twentieth.