Hamilton edges Vettel in Silverstone practice

Lewis Hamilton has finished fastest in Friday practice for the British Formula 1 Grand Prix despite Sebastian Vettel going faster in the day’s second session at Silverstone.

Hamilton set a 1:27.487s lap in Practice 1, with Vettel capable of 1:27.552s in Practice 2, an improvement of nearly half a second for the Ferrari driver

There was little between the two championship protagonists, who are split by a single world championship point heading into the weekend.

Valtteri Bottas was a third of a second off the pace across both sessions to trail his team-mate throughout the day.

Daniel Ricciardo was the best of the non-Mercedes or Ferrari runners, the Australian ending opening practice in fourth before dropping behind Kimi Raikkonen to fifth later in the day.

Following a gearbox problem in the first session, Max Verstappen lost the back end of his Red Bull at Luffield, tagging the barrier with the right rear early in Practice 2.

It mirrored an incident for Sergey Sirotkin in opening practice, though in that instance the Williams driver was able to keep the car out of the wall.

Verstappen’s error forced a red flag with little more than a quarter of an hour on the clock and without a lap time to his name.

Pierre Gasly was also forced from the session, the Toro Rosso pulling off the circuit after being told to stop the car with just over half an hour left in the session.

Brendan Hartley found himself towards the bottom of the timing sheets in both sessions, while Sauber’s Charles Leclerc continued to impress by going 10th fastest in Practice 2.

Down the order in the morning, Fernando Alonso improved as the day wore on, engaging in a brief on track battle with Leclerc in the final stages of the day’s proceedings.

The McLaren driver ended up sixth in Practice 2, while Stoffel Vandoorne languished in 17th in both sessions.

A crash for Romain Grosjean in opening practice saw the Haas driver sit out Practice 2.

The Frenchman lost control going through Abbey at the start of the lap, making heavy contact with the barrier to necessitate a new chassis.

Regulations state that any driver taking a new chassis can take no further part in that day’s action.

The incident was caused as Grosjean attempted to take the corner with DRS open, apologising to his team as he was too slow pressing the button to close the rear wing slot.

F1 practice continues on Saturday with another 60-minute session starting at 1900 AEST, ahead of qualifying at 2300 AEST.

Result: British Formula 1 Grand Prix, Practice 1

Result: British Formula 1 Grand Prix, Practice 2