Oscar Piastri’s hopes of making an early impression at the British Grand Prix were hit when mechanical issues blighted his progress in first practice.
But the Australian McLaren driver was able to salvage third place, behind team-mate Lando Norris.
Norris bounced back from his Austrian disappointment by topping the timesheets in 1 min 27.420 sec at the iconic 5.891km Silverstone circuit, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Triple world champion Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull, .309 of a second off the pace in cool conditions.
Verstappen and Norris had made contact when fighting for the lead in the closing stages of last weekend’s Austrian GP, which ended Norris’ race, dropped Verstappen to fifth and gifted Mercedes’ George Russell an unexpected victory.
Russell was fifth on Friday in a session which was red-flagged twice, after Yuki Tsunoda’s Visa RB got stuck in the gravel, and when Piastri had to stop with what he suggested was a hydraulics problem.
First practice featured several rookies, the best being Briton Oliver Bearman in 14th, racing in place of Kevin Magnussen at Haas where he will replace Nico Hülkenberg from 2025.
Red Bull had teenager Isack Hadjar in Sergio Perez’s car. Argentine Franco Colapinto made his debut at Williams in place of Logan Sargeant, and Jack Doohan was in Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
Verstappen leads the championship 81 points ahead of Norris as the 24-race season reaches the halfway mark in Sunday’s race.
https://thewest.com.au/sport/motorsport/piastri-battles-to-third-place-at-british-gp-practice-c-15257890
