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Lando Norris was fastest in both of Friday’s 60-minute sessions in Silverstone, with Piastri second best in Free Practice 2 while third-placed Sergio Perez was four-tenths off the pace.
However, those times were misleading as the threat of weather in the second hour saw teams mix up their programmes. Max Verstappen completed his single lap runs earlier than most.
That left the Red Bull driver only seventh fastest with suggestions McLaren had also turned up the wick more than its rivals to further muddy the standings.
Piastri’s day was also interrupted with a fuel cell issue which saw him roll to a halt in the final minutes of Free Practice 1.
It ultimately cost him little and the problem was resolved in time for the day’s latter session.
“It’s interesting to see what other people were doing,” Piastri said of Friday’s running.
“If we can maintain that gap through the rest of the weekend, that would be good, but I’m not sure we will.
“We had a good session, good day, felt pretty good. Just a few things to tidy up on my side.”
The rain that arrived late in Free Practice 2 is forecast to hang around for the balance of the weekend.
Set to ease heading towards qualifying on Saturday, predictions have an increased chance Sunday’s grand prix will be wet.
“I think it’ll have a big influence,” Piastri said of the threat posed by the weather.
“The pace today in dry conditions might not necessarily be that important for the rest of the weekend, so we’ll see.
“It’s going to be a tough one for all the teams, trying to stay on top of the weather – I mean, trying to stay on top of British weather is hard in normal times, let alone on a race weekend!
“I think it’ll be an exciting weekend from that point of view.”
Across the garage, Norris was enthused by the promising start.
He explained that set-up changes made throughout the course of Friday left his car in a good window for the rest of the weekend.
However, like Piastri, the Brit is also mindful of the threat posed by others.
“Good start to the weekend,” Norris said.
“Didn’t feel that comfortable this morning but through the sessions we made some tweaks and I got in a much nicer window, which is important around here.
“It’s quite on the nose and quite sketchy, pretty high speed, so tricky but I’m happy.
“I think we made some good progress,” he added.
“I think we’re pretty tight, and even we’re probably the Mercedes, they seem just as quick as us, they just didn’t turn up the engine and do as much in the final run.
“So we’re in a good place, but we definitely have a little bit more to find.”
