Pierre Gasly set the quickest time as tricky conditions led to an eventful first practice.
As teams got their first taste of the resurfaced Silverstone, it quickly became apparent that grip was very low as drivers struggled to set a clean lap.
George Russell, Lando Norris and Romain Grosjean would all suffer spins, the Haas driver rather embarrassingly hitting the barrier exiting the pits and losing his front wing.
Kimi Raikkonen would then cause a red flag after suffering an engine issue just before the halfway mark in the Alfa Romeo.
Eventually, teams would get a window of running with Mercedes moving to the top of the timesheets, only for a light rain shower to then pass over the circuit causing most drivers to return to the pits.
With the track staying largely dry, only Ferrari and Mercedes opted to do a lap on intermediates before switching back to the slicks.
In the closing minutes, several drivers opted to go for fast laps on and it was then Gasly moved to the top with a 1m27.173s for Red Bull
Valtteri Bottas would remain second with his earlier lap as Max Verstappen completed the top three also with a late run.
Lewis Hamilton didn’t have the smoothest session in fourth, with Charles Leclerc frustrated by traffic issues in fifth for Ferrari.
The Monegasque would still be half a tenth clear of teammate Sebastian Vettel in sixth, however.
Renault was also among those to up the pace late, with Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo claiming seventh and eighth.
Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz would round out the top 10 for Toro Rosso and McLaren respectively.
Norris would be P11, with the Woking-based outfit still expected to be lead midfield outfit at Silverstone.
Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll may take some optimism from P12 and P14 for the Racing Point team based just across the road from the circuit.
There was frustration at Alfa Romeo though as their efforts to test their upgrades were hampered by Raikkonen’s issue and the tricky conditions leaving Antonio Giovinazzi only 15th.
Russell would follow in 16th, as Grosjean’s misery continued with a second spin on his second out lap of the day spoiling his tyres and leaving the Frenchman down in 19th.
Robert Kubica would bring up the field for Williams.
Full results from Practice 1 can be seen below:
