With many improvements installed in practically all the cars, the teams faced the first free practice sessions of the 2022 Formula 1 British Grand Prix with a clear objective; collect data to study their performance and operation on the track.
However, the rain drowned their hopes and did not allow the teams to shoot normally. In fact, some drivers did not even complete a timed lap, an example of how unimportant this FP1 was at Silverstone.
At the end of the first 60 minutes of action, Valtteri Bottas led the timesheets with a 1:42.249 on intermediate tyres, a time that was recorded in the final moments of Free Practice 1 when some of his rivals tried to use the compounds of dry.
Behind the Alfa Romeo driver, Lewis Hamilton (on softs) and Carlos Sainz completed the top 3, with Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher, Guanyu Zhou and Kevin Magnussen also below the 1:50 barrier.
Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top ten, while from 11th to 20th, no driver completed a timed lap, leaving Max Verstappen bottom of the timesheets. In the absence of a minute to see the checkered flag, the Canadian from Aston Martin caused the red flag and FP1 was terminated.
FP1 Results, British GP 2022 F1 Free Practice 1
Click on “VIEW RESULTS” to see the full time table
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Km/h | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Valtteri Bottas |
 |
9 | 1’42.249 | 207.411 | ||
| 2 |  Lewis Hamilton |
 |
10 | 1’42.781 | 0.532 | 0.532 | 206.337 |
| 3 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
8 | 1,42,967 | 0.718 | 0.186 | 205,965 |
| 4 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
7 | 1’43.801 | 1.552 | 0.834 | 204.310 |
| 5 |  Mick Schumacher |
 |
3 | 1’43.895 | 1.646 | 0.094 | 204.125 |
| 6 |  Guanyu Zhou |
 |
4 | 1’46.171 | 3.922 | 2.276 | 199.749 |
| 7 |  Kevin Magnussen |
 |
3 | 1’48.161 | 5.912 | 1.990 | 196.074 |
| 8 |  Lance Stroll |
 |
5 | 1’51.243 | 8.994 | 3.082 | 190.642 |
| 9 |  Yuki Tsunoda |
 |
Five | 1’51.373 | 9.124 | 0.130 | 190.419 |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel |
 |
5 | 1’59.168 | 16.919 | 7.795 | 177.963 |
| see results | |||||||
Summary of Free Practice 1 of the 2022 F1 British GP at Silverstone
In the rain at Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were the first two drivers to take to the track behind the wheel of both Mercedes, drawing applause from their fans, as the Brackley duo race that weekend at home in the GP of Britain.
The two Ferraris also seemed to be in a hurry on a circuit that, according to Carlos Sainz on the radio, had “crazy conditions”, with zones for extreme rain tires and others that were practically not wet.
The first driver to register a lap time in the time table was Charles Leclerc, a 1:44.769 that obviously placed him in first position, while the vast majority of the grid waited in their garages with apparent calm and looking up at the sky.
With 10 minutes of Free Practice 1 elapsed, most of the drivers began to dare to go out for a ride, since the rain seemed not to diminish and the radars also predicted a complete session under the British rain, although with the exception of Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel, no one completed a timed lap.
Before returning to the garage, Leclerc improved his time and dropped to 1:43.801, well ahead of the rest of his rivals, who were above 1:50.
After completing the first 20 minutes of the session, except for Guanyu Zhou, Mick Schumacher and Valtteri Bottas, the rest of the drivers had already completed at least one installation lap. Meanwhile, the rain said goodbye momentarily and some pilots began to think about dry tires.
Sainz at the wheel of his Ferrari F1-75 would be the first driver to beat Leclerc’s time with a 1m42.967s, obviously still on intermediate tyres. Behind the two drivers from the Maranello team, Zhou, Magnussen, Stroll and Tsunoda completed the top 5, with 11 cars still without a timed lap.
In the garage of the current world champion and leader of the 2022 championship, it was very quiet, with Max Verstappen out of the car with two minutes to go halfway through the first practice session of the 2022 British GP.
Halfway through the session, all the cars returned to the pits and silence fell at Silverstone for over ten minutes as the rain reappeared, until Lewis Hamilton broke it up with around 10 minutes to go.
With seven minutes remaining in the first free practice session at Silverstone, the sun began to shine on the British track and some drivers dared to mount dry tyres, but with some sections still very wet, no one managed to beat the best time .
The one who did it was Valtteri Bottas, but with an intermediate tire; 1:42,249. Just before the session ended a minute early after Lance Stroll went off the track, Lewis Hamilton managed to improve on softs and move up to second.
