Teams and drivers are preparing to head out on track at Silverstone for first practice as they gear up for sprint qualifying later this afternoon: follow FP1 for the British Grand Prix live with us. Fresh from
George Russell's return to the top step in Austria, Formula One heads to Silverstone for round nine of the 2026
F1 season. This weekend will see five British drivers race on home soil with
Lewis Hamilton hoping to win his home race for a record tenth time. Russell meanwhile will hope to replicate Norris' victory from last season.
Anticipation is high to see how the cars will perform on track, with much promise for Red Bull after their improved weekend in Austria.
Max Verstappen, who finished second in Spielberg, will hope to carry his form onto the fast-flowing Silverstone circuit.
Ferrari will hope to bounce back after their struggles in Austria, with Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth after his win at the previous race in Barcelona.
Kimi Antonelli has seen his gap at the top close to 40 points over the last two races and will be hoping to take his sixth win of the season.
Hamilton fears Silverstone power deployment nightmare
Power deployment will be a big factor at Silverstone, with Hamilton fearing that his home circuit could
expose one of the Scuderia's biggest weaknesses. Hamilton believes the unique demands of Silverstone's high-speed layout and the limitations of
Formula 1's current hybrid systems will leave every driver battling battery depletion. For Ferrari, which Hamilton says is already losing significant straight-line performance, that could prove especially costly.
Speaking in Thursday's FIA press conference, he said: "Obviously we had some great performances before. The fact is, as you could see in the race, we lose quite a lot of time. I think it’s like four tenths that we lose in a straight line. It’s hard to recover that through corners. I think we’ve got a great car fundamentally, it’s just we’ve just got to continue to work to maximise what we can and get the best results we can, score as many points as we can until we can close that deficit."