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British GP: Solid Start but Still Work To Do

Lewis and George complete their programme despite wind and rain at the Home of British Motor Racing

The third and final leg of the triple-header takes the Team to Silverstone, just a few miles from the team's factories in Brackley and Brixworth.

We have a few small updates for Silverstone to build on the momentum of the past races. These include a trimmed front wing flap, a reprofiled flap on the rear wing and a smaller front brake duct inlet and exit.

A dry track, sunshine and slightly higher temperatures than in the morning greeted the drivers at the start of FP2 at Silverstone. However, the weather radar indicated an increasing chance of rain for the end of the session, with the majority of teams pulling their Soft tyre runs forward.

Both Lewis and George opened the session on fresh Medium tyres and completed shorter runs. George was not as satisfied with the car's balance as he had been in FP1, but gusting winds across the track made for tricky driving.

At the end of the session, we focussed on longer runs before the rain set in in the final minutes of FP2. Both drivers were able to complete a decent number of laps before it started to rain - Lewis finished P6, George in P10.

The drivers and engineers will now study the data overnight and fine-tune the set-ups in order to optimise it for FP3 and the subsequent Qualifying and Grand Prix.

Decent start to the team's home race at Silverstone

The day began with rain showers, but these had cleared by the start of FP1. The session took place in cool temperatures of around 16°C (air) and 25°C (track). The Team's focus was on understanding the car's balance and completing long runs for the rest of the weekend.

However, the plan was disrupted slightly early on when FP1 was interrupted with red flags after just 10 minutes because of an incident involving Yuki Tsunoda in the RB. Tsunoda's car got stuck in the gravel at Turn 7 and had to be recovered before the session could be resumed.

George and Lewis started the session with runs on the Hard tyres and then switched to the Medium compound. Both drivers reported that the car felt a bit 'on the nose' on the first runs on the Hard tyres. George was generally happy with the car on the Medium set, although he felt he could have got more out of the first run. Lewis experienced a bit of understeer.

The session was brought to a close when Oscar Piastri's McLaren suffered a hydraulic issue in the pit lane.

George and Lewis finished the session in 5th and 7th place. FP1 was another close affair. The top 10 were within half a second of each other.

The action continues with FP3 on Saturday morning at 11:30 local time (12:30 CEST), before Qualifying in the afternoon to determine the grid positions for Sunday's Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton

The car felt generally good today. We’re still a little bit behind the ultimate pace at the front but today was encouraging. I don’t think the times are fully representative of where our speed was, but nevertheless, we know we’ve got work to do tonight. We will therefore do what we can to try and find more performance and hopefully that can get us a little closer to those ahead.

It is always great to be here at Silverstone. The size of the crowd seems to grow every year and it was awesome to see all their support. Hopefully we can give them something to cheer about over the rest of the weekend.

George Russell

FP1 was a strong session with the car feeling great. FP2 was a slightly more challenging hour, and we need to pick through why that was. It was much windier, and I don’t think we got the tyres in the right window, so that could explain a chunk of it. The conditions are likely to change across the weekend, with more rain possible too, so we will have to be adaptive. I hope the fans didn’t get too wet this afternoon; as always, it was fantastic to see their support in the grandstands.

After today’s running, I’d say that the competitive picture looks similar to the past few races. McLaren and Max (Verstappen) look a step ahead and it’s close between ourselves and Ferrari. We will work hard overnight to try and take a step forward and see where that leaves us tomorrow.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We got off to a decent start with both cars in FP1. The balance around the lap was reasonably good and both drivers were relatively happy. With the first session being interrupted by a red flag, we didn't manage as much long run work as we hoped for, but it seemed that we had the car in a decent place.

For FP2, the wind picked up a little and overall, the car was a bit less stable. It's good to highlight these issues today though whilst we can still work on the setup. We've got some work planned overnight to try and understand the balance issues a bit further. We are optimistic that we can make progress and with that, we should find a bit more pace for the rest of the weekend.

2024 British GP FP1 Result

1

Lando Norris

McLaren

1:27.420

26

2

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

1:27.554

22

3

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

1:27.631

18

4

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

1:27.729

25

5

George Russell

Mercedes-AMG

1:27.738

26

6

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

1:27.794

27

7

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes-AMG

1:27.858

26

8

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:27.903

26

9

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:27.925

27

10

Esteban Ocon

Alpine

1:27.974

24

11

Nico Hülkenberg

Haas

1:28.082

22

12

Valtteri Bottas

Sauber

1:28.254

26

13

Daniel Ricciardo

Racing Bulls

1:28.477

24

14

Oliver Bearman

Haas

1:28.536

25

15

Zhou Guanyu

Sauber

1:28.590

24

16

Alexander Albon

Williams

1:28.649

25

17

Jack Doohan

Alpine

1:28.735

22

18

Franco Colapinto

Williams

1:29.078

24

19

Isack Hadjar

Red Bull

1:29.270

15

20

Yuki Tsunoda

Racing Bulls

1:29.864

5

2024 British GP FP2 Result

1

Lando Norris

McLaren

1:26.549

26

2

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

1:26.880

24

3

Sergio Pérez

Red Bull

1:26.983

25

4

Nico Hülkenberg

Haas

1:26.990

26

5

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:27.150

27

6

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes-AMG

1:27.202

26

7

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

1:27.233

21

8

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:27.249

31

9

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

1:27.274

21

10

George Russell

Mercedes-AMG

1:27.294

26

11

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

1:27.372

25

12

Valtteri Bottas

Sauber

1:27.381

16

13

Alexander Albon

Williams

1:27.645

26

14

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

1:27.732

24

15

Esteban Ocon

Alpine

1:27.743

19

16

Yuki Tsunoda

Racing Bulls

1:27.745

26

17

Logan Sargeant

Williams

1:27.809

24

18

Zhou Guanyu

Sauber

1:27.813

19

19

Daniel Ricciardo

Racing Bulls

1:27.916

25

20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas

1:28.122

20

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