Local hero Lando Norris took top spot in the second practice session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton by more than two tenths of a second as championship leader Oscar Piastri finished in fourth place.
At the start of the session, FP1’s fastest man Hamilton picked up where he left off, taking top spot with a lap of 1:27.280 on Medium tyres. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen then slotted into second place on the same tyres, 0.059s off the Briton, and 0.156s ahead of Leclerc.
With a little under 20 minutes on the clock, all three were eclipsed by Piastri who used the C3 Medium tyres to post a lap of 1:26.902 to take P1. Racing Bulls Isack Hadjar then vaulted to second place with a lap 1:27.062, but Hamilton, finding more time on his Medium tyres climbed back to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:26.902.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz then had a moment at Luffield. The Spanish driver spun luridly on the kerbing but was able to continue. The mystified former Ferrari man was left to ask whether he’d been upset by a random gust of wind, a suspicion later confirmed by his team.
While that was happening, Leclerc jumped to top spot with a lap of 1:26.887, but behind him Hamilton was going even quicker and the nine-time British Grand Prix-winner reclaimed top spot almost three tenths clear of his team-mate.
Just before the halfway mark the Mercedes drivers bolted on Soft tyres and after George Russell took P1 with a lap of 1:26.523, rookie team-mate powered past that with a lap of 1:26.383.
While Hamilton backed out of his first flyer on Softs, Leclerc then beat both with a lap of 1:26.202, though he suggested that there was “something wrong” with his front-left tyre during the lap. Piastri also put in a good lap on the red-banded tyre to take P2, eight hundredths of a second off the Monegasque.
Norris was able to find even more time and with purple times in every sector he powered almost four tenths clear of Leclerc with a lap of 1:25.816.
Hamilton managed to get in a qualifying sim and he briefly took second, three tenths off Norris, before Leclerc put in a second flyer of 1:26.038 to dislodge his team-mate and steal P2. That left Hamilton in third place, ahead of Piastri., Verstappen popped in a second flyer to improve to fifth place but the Dutchman, afflicted by heavy understeer, was still half a second off top spot.
Antonelli drifted out to sixth place, and the Italian was separated from team-mate Russell by Lance Stroll who took his updated Aston Martin to P7 with a time of 1:26.430. Behind eight-placed Russell the top 10 order was rounded Hadjar and Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson.
With the qualifying simulations complete the field migrated to longer runs in an incident-free final third.
2025 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Free Practice
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:25.816 26 247.128
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:26.038 0.222 29 246.491
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:26.117 0.301 29 246.264
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:26.286 0.470 27 245.782
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:26.314 0.498 23 245.702
6 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:26.383 0.567 28 245.506
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:26.430 0.614 24 245.373
8 George Russell Mercedes 1:26.523 0.707 27 245.109
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:26.524 0.708 27 245.106
10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:26.624 0.808 28 244.823
11 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:26.840 1.024 30 244.214
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:26.876 1.060 24 244.113
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:26.904 1.088 27 244.034
14 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:26.941 1.125 26 243.930
15 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:26.980 1.164 25 243.821
16 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:27.159 1.343 27 243.320
17 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:27.165 1.349 29 243.304
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:27.174 1.358 24 243.278
19 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:27.226 1.410 27 243.133
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:27.289 1.473 29 242.95
