Fan favourite Norris on top in British GP practice
SILVERSTONE, England - Fan favourite Lando Norris lapped fastest in British Grand Prix practice on Friday as an army of McLaren Formula One fans, many of them cheering from a sold-out 'Landostand', got what they wanted to see.
The Briton was top of the second session with a best effort of one minute 25.816 seconds, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc 0.222 slower and Lewis Hamilton 0.301 off the pace after going quickest in the first practice.
McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri was fourth fastest with Red Bull's four-times champion Max Verstappen fifth and Mercedes Kimi Antonelli, who will have a three-place grid drop for Friday's race, sixth.
Lance Stroll was seventh for Aston Martin with Mercedes' George Russell eighth. Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar was ninth and teammate Liam Lawson 10th.
Hamilton, last year's race winner, had raised hopes of more home heroics with the fastest lap of 1:26.892 in first practice while 17-year-old Arvid Lindblad looked strong in his debut session for Red Bull.
Hamilton is on a career-low run of 13 races without a podium finish but is a record nine-times home race winner and hoping to end the drought.
The seven-times world champion is racing at home in Ferrari's red colours for the first time. The Italian team have yet to win this season, the only top-four outfit yet to do so.
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Hamilton had not led a practice session this year before Friday, although he was fastest in Chinese sprint qualifying.
Norris, winner in Austria last weekend, was 0.023 slower in session one with Piastri third.
DOMINANT ADVANTAGE
Piastri leads Norris by 15 points with Silverstone marking the 24-race season's midpoint. Champions McLaren have a dominant 207 points advantage over Ferrari in the constructors' standings.
Lindblad, replacing Yuki Tsunoda for first practice only, to satisfy young driver testing requirements, ended up 14th fastest with a time only half a second behind that of teammate and reigning champion Verstappen, who was 10th in that session.
Red Bull had to seek special dispensation from the governing FIA for the Anglo-Swedish driver with Indian heritage to be allowed to drive while under the age limit of 18, and team boss Christian Horner was pleased with what he saw.
"I thought he acquitted himself very well, his feedback was clear and concise," he said of the Formula Two driver tipped for an eventual seat at Racing Bulls. "He's definitely a prospect for the future."
Only one other driver had debuted so young at a grand prix weekend and that was Verstappen in Japanese Grand Prix practice in 2014, three days after his 17th birthday.
Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto spun his Sauber full circle at speed but without mishap in the first session.
Estonian Paul Aron lapped for Sauber, replacing Nico Hulkenberg for practice one, and was 17th.
Fans again turned out in force, after 60,000 on Thursday. The four-day attendance is expected to be a record half a million people. REUTERS
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