2016 F1 Round 10 British Grand Prix FP1 – Hamilton leads Rosberg by 0.033s, Leclerc makes practice debut

FP1 for the 2016 British Grand Prix took place at Silverstone on July 8. Home favourite Hamilton led with a 1:31.654, just 0.033 seconds ahead of Mercedes team-mate Rosberg. Hülkenberg was third for Force India.

Archive photograph of the grid at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix on July 10, 2016.

Both Mercedes drivers set their representative laps on Pirelli medium tyres, with less than four hundredths of a second between Hamilton and Rosberg. Hülkenberg used softer tyres to take third, 0.838 seconds off the fastest time, making him the closest challenger to Mercedes.

Vettel finished the session fourth and reported a gearbox problem late on. His Ferrari team-mate Räikkönen was sixth, with Ricciardo fifth between the two red cars. Verstappen was seventh in the other Red Bull.

Pérez was eighth, putting both Force Indias in the top ten. Sainz was ninth and Alonso tenth. Toro Rosso’s Kvyat finished eleventh, while Alonso’s McLaren team-mate Button was twelfth.

Williams showed no single-lap advantage in this session. Bottas completed 38 laps and finished thirteenth, while Massa did 34 laps and was fourteenth. Both were more than two and a half seconds behind Hamilton.

Haas handed Gutiérrez’s car to Leclerc for FP1. The young Monegasque spun early on and ultimately completed 26 laps to finish eighteenth. Team-mate Grosjean was fifteenth.

Renault also gave Ocon a run in Magnussen’s car. He completed 31 laps and finished nineteenth, while team-mate Palmer was sixteenth. Both stand-in drivers set times on Friday morning. Gutiérrez and Magnussen did not take part in this session.

Hamilton and Rosberg took the top two places, followed by Hülkenberg in third, while Vettel ended practice with a gearbox problem. All 22 drivers set a time, including stand-ins Leclerc and Ocon.