Norris blitzes Silverstone as Verstappen makes rare mistake

Lando Norris left his legion of fans dreaming of a home soil victory after blitzing his rivals in second practice for the British Grand Prix.

It may only have been Friday running, where teams experiment with tyres and run plans, but the sight of McLaren driver Norris a third-of-a-second clear of his nearest challenger – which happened to be his own team-mate in Oscar Piastri – will warm the hearts of those eager to see their hero clinch a win on Sunday.

With the MCL38s sporting a new rear wing designed for low-downforce circuits such as Silverstone, the early signs are that it appears to be a potent weapon, with Piastri at least second quickest, albeit 0.331s adrift.

For once, Sergio Perez had the upper hand on Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen as the Mexican was third on the timesheet, albeit 0.434s off the pace. That will be a small tonic for Perez after sitting out FP1 for junior driver Isack Hadjar.

As for Verstappen, he had to settle on his opening soft-tyre time of 1:27.233s, seven-tenths adrift of Norris, after making a small and rare error by running wide at Copse on his second outing, forcing him to abort.

Nico Hulkenberg managed to post the fourth-quickest lap, suggesting the raft of upgrades on his Haas was having an effect. Conversely, team-mate Kevin Magnussen propped up the standings, 1.573s adrift, albeit after he, too, ran off track at one stage.

Following the early runs on the medium compound over the opening 15 minutes, Verstappen had the edge over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.253s with a lap of 1:27.831s, with Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes and Carlos Sainz for the Scuderia – both setting the same time – only a further 0.017s adrift.

With the threat of rain in the air, Verstappen was the first to switch to the soft Pirellis – his first run of the day on the rubber after opting not to use it in FP1 – with his 1:27.233s improving on Norris’ leading time from first practice by almost two-tenths.

It was the trigger for others to follow, with Sainz finishing just 0.016s off the pace and ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll by only 0.026s before Hulkenberg became the first driver to dip below 87 seconds for a lap with 1:26.990s.

Hulkenberg’s time out front was shortlived, however, as Piastri quickly toppled the German by 0.110s.

Norris then unleashed his McLaren on his maiden soft-tyre outing in FP2 and purpled all three sectors to set what proved to be the leading time of 1:26.549s, a third of a second quicker than Piastri.

Like Verstappen, neither Mercedes driver used the softs in FP1. Although Hamilton’s final sector was strong, through the first and second he was off the pace and finished 0.653s behind Norris to leave him sixth behind Leclerc. Russell was worse off by a tenth of a second to leave him behind Sainz and Stroll.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso led the lower half of the standings, just over eight-tenths down.

With five minutes remaining the forecasted rain arrived, although that did not prevent several practice starts from taking place at the death.