Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari “can definitely dream” of a strong result after a “really positive” start to the British Grand Prix weekend on Friday.
Ferrari demonstrated their most competitive pace on a Friday so far this season at a warm, but windy, Silverstone circuit.
Hamilton, the nine-time winner at this track, was fastest in the first practice session. While Lando Norris topped the second session by two tenths of a second, both Ferrari cars were comfortably within the top three times and close to the pace of McLaren.
“I definitely feel we can dream of having a strong weekend. But, executing and putting it altogether and extracting it is another thing,” said Hamilton, who is aiming for a record-extending 13th consecutive podium at Silverstone.
“I will prepare myself the best I can to make sure we get the best result. Tomorrow [Saturday] there`s rain potentially coming and on Sunday as well, so I will try my hardest to make sure we are ready for that.”
Ferrari introduced a new floor at the previous Austrian Grand Prix, which helped improve the SF-25 car. Charles Leclerc finished on the podium in Austria, with Hamilton in fourth, though both were some distance behind McLaren.
However, Friday`s running at Silverstone suggests Ferrari might be on a more equal footing with McLaren. Both Leclerc and Hamilton set their best times on their second attempt on fresh tyres, yet were still only a few tenths shy of Norris`s fastest lap.
“It was a really good day. Great to see the crowd. Amazing to be out on the track in a Ferrari at Silverstone. It`s pretty incredible,” Hamilton commented.
“McLaren and Red Bull had an upgrade so for us to be in the mix still, given they had a step, is really positive. I`m progressing a lot now with the car. I`m much more in the window where it needs to be.”
“By P2 we still weren`t where we need to be, so in P2 we struggled more but we know the changes we need to make for the next session.”
Charles Leclerc, who has generally been Ferrari`s leading driver this season, indicated over the radio that his race setup felt “pretty good” but acknowledged later that they needed to find more pace for qualifying.
“The day was good. We have been pretty strong. We still need to find some pace in qualifying. McLaren is the car to beat but with race pace I was happy,” Leclerc stated.
“I`m finding my way. I`ve changed the car a lot recently to find some pace in qualifying. I`ve not found a way for that but we are very strong in the race.”
McLaren: Ferrari are in the fight
Championship leaders McLaren, who have won eight of the 11 races this season and secured a dominant one-two in Austria, were impressed enough by Ferrari`s Friday performance to consider them a significant threat.
Lando Norris said “the Ferraris have been very, very quick today and they shall be tomorrow,” while teammate Oscar Piastri added: “It was a bit of a surprise. They looked good, both in the qualifying and long runs. They are in the fight this weekend, which is interesting to see.”
George Russell, whose Mercedes team again found the hot conditions challenging on Friday, finishing outside the top five, also noted Ferrari`s recent form.
“Ferrari have turned it up the last couple of races. They have been strong on race pace all season but had bad qualifyings,” Russell observed.
Despite Ferrari`s promising start, McLaren is still seen as the likely favourite for Saturday`s pole position, especially with Norris appearing to maintain his strong pace from Austria at his home event.
The British driver finished two tenths ahead of the Ferraris, though he typically downplayed McLaren`s apparent advantage on Friday.
“I think we have a bit of work to do, to be honest,” Norris insisted.
“It looks maybe a bit too good today, like always. Ferrari always catch up into P3 like they did last weekend so I`d say pleased with today but nothing to be too proud about just yet.”
Norris is particularly eager to claim his first Silverstone pole position, especially with his dedicated `Landostand` full of 10,000 fans at Stowe corner.
“That`s my target. I`m working on it,” said Norris when asked about aiming for pole.
“[The grandstand] is incredible. I look at it every single lap. It`s hard to miss so every lap I`m forced to look at it but it`s also a great thing to see. And if it`s distracting me it`s distracting others, so it`s working perfectly! Keep it up.”
Piastri finished almost half a second behind Norris on the timesheets and admitted his quickest lap on the soft tyre was “a bit messy.” However, the 15-point championship leader remained satisfied with their position.
“The potential is definitely there and the long runs looked solid as well,” Piastri added. “An interesting day and I think a lot of competition.”
Verstappen: Red Bull lacking performance
Max Verstappen struggled with understeer throughout Friday and was half a second off the pace in the second practice session. However, Red Bull often finds significant performance improvements overnight, and team principal Christian Horner believes they can “tidy up” the balance of the car, which features a new floor.
“We are giving away 90 per cent of our lap time in Turns 6 and 7, so the slow speeds turning back into the wind, but the rest of the lap is looking pretty decent,” said Horner.
“The long run is looking pretty decent so I think we`ve got something to work with, we`ve just got to tune it the right way.”
Verstappen was less optimistic, stating he had “no balance in the car” which made it “very difficult from corner to corner.”
“Every week is different scenarios. Now with the wind around here it seems our car is quite sensitive to it. But, in general, it`s not been an easy day,” he commented.
“Maybe a few that we will look at but I think overall we are just lacking a bit of performance.”
The track temperature at Silverstone was close to 40C, which seemed to negatively affect Mercedes. Both Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were over half a second off the pace in both practice sessions.
Russell expressed hope for rain on Saturday, with a 40 per cent chance forecast for qualifying.
“We are hoping it cools down for the rest of the weekend. It`s frustrating that every single week we are at the mercy of the weather,” he said.
“We need to improve that, especially now we are in the summer months. We are doing everything we can to improve it.”
“Our fortunes will turn for the rest of the weekend and it will come towards us, but we can`t be at the mercy of the weather and we are right now. If it`s wet in qualifying, I will be excited for that!”
Marcus Prine