Finn Valtteri Bottas, driving for Alfa Romeo, clocked the quickest time on Friday during the opening rainy free practice session. The focus was on the British Grand Prix, a race held on the historic Silverstone circuit, now in its tenth edition of the Formula 1 World Championship here in Europe. The session delivered plenty of spray and shifting grip as rain parameterized every lap.
On his best lap, Bottas ran 5,891 meters around the iconic track on a single set of tires, crossing the line in 1 minute, 42.249 seconds. His time edged out the previous generation of results by a small margin, with teammate Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time British champion, finishing the session just behind. In the standings, Bottas held a notable advantage over Carlos Sainz of Ferrari, who stood in second place overall, while Sainz continued to chase after strong results in the Canadian event and held a firm position in the World Championship standings despite a competitive race weekend. The session produced a sense of unpredictability, as several drivers used the intermediate compound to adapt to the drying yet variable conditions.
Among the competitors were other Spanish and European champions, including Fernando Alonso, who races for Alpine, and Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez alongside Max Verstappen. Both Perez and Verstappen arrived at Silverstone as title contenders, with Verstappen carrying a strong momentum toward the World Cup lead. All these drivers, like Hamilton, navigated the tricky conditions as the track evolved lap by lap, often posting the best sector times on the intermediate tires rather than the soft compound used in dry conditions.
At the time the standings looked tight, with Verstappen holding a lead in the World Championship with a tally around 175 points. He was ahead of Sergio Pérez by a margin of about 46 points and trailing Charles Leclerc of Ferrari by roughly 49 points in the overall ranking. Leclerc had shown solid pace and remained a factor in the title chase, even as Bottas delivered the fastest single lap of the session and set the tone for what could be a dynamic weekend campaign at Silverstone.
As the second free practice gets underway, the teams prepared for another session with the clock ticking and the weather continuing to influence tire strategy. The next practice is scheduled to begin in the afternoon, aligning with local timing and European coverage, with experts watching closely to see how the weather, set-up choices, and tire choices will shape the grid and the strategic approach for qualifying and the main race weekend.