Lewis Hamilton was fastest in practice at Silverstone for Ferrari, setting the benchmark ahead of sprint qualifying later on Friday. He finished 0.213 seconds ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Ferrari also had Charles Leclerc ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, while Oscar Piastri placed fifth for McLaren after a spin at Becketts and ended up 0.887 seconds off Hamilton's pace. Max Verstappen was sixth, 0.980 seconds back, with the source reporting that he appeared to be short of grip.
Lando Norris, Isack Hadjar, Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson rounded out the reported top 10. The session was run in clear conditions with a temperature of 23C, in front of a Silverstone weekend expected to draw a record 500,000 spectators.
Hamilton's pace is notable given both his nine previous Silverstone wins and his own pre-weekend concern that Ferrari could lose significant time to Mercedes on the straights. Sprint qualifying, scheduled for 16:30 BST, should offer a clearer read on whether Ferrari's practice speed can carry into a competitive session.
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