In a captivating start to the British Grand Prix weekend, Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari topped the only practice session held at Silverstone before the highly anticipated sprint qualifying on Friday.

Hamilton clocked a time that was 0.213 seconds faster than Kimi Antonelli, the current championship leader, who also drives for Ferrari. Following closely behind were Charles Leclerc, who outpaced George Russell of Mercedes, the recent winner in Austria.

Key session highlights include:

• Oscar Piastri from McLaren finished fifth, but was 0.887 seconds off Hamilton's pace, despite experiencing a spin at Becketts.
• Max Verstappen of Red Bull placed sixth, struggling with grip and ending 0.980 seconds behind Hamilton.
• Lando Norris and Isack Hadjar from Red Bull followed, rounding out the top eight.
• Nico Hulkenberg of Audi and Liam Lawson from Racing Bulls completed the top ten.

The practice session took place under clear blue skies and temperatures around 23°C, with a record-breaking 500,000 spectators expected throughout the weekend. Hamilton, who holds the record for the most wins at Silverstone with nine victories, proved to be a surprise pace-setter despite prior predictions that Ferrari would struggle on the straights.

The session remained largely uneventful aside from Piastri's spin, setting the stage for an exciting sprint qualifying set to begin at 16:30 BST.