Max Verstappen made a flying start to the British Grand Prix weekend by leading Practice 1 on Friday.
The reigning world champion went to the top with his first flying lap of the one-hour session, leading on hard tyres compared to many others on the mediums.
Tyres were the talk of the opening session as Pirelli introduced a new stronger construction designed to cope with the increasing loads and speeds of the 2023 cars.
Many drivers reported a lack of grip particularly early on in their stints which was likely linked to the warm-up characteristics of the new rubber.
Ferrari briefly displaced Verstappen when the soft tyre runs began, but the Dutchman responded with a 1m28.600s on the red-striped compound to lead by four-tenths.
Teammate Sergio Perez made it a Red Bull one-two after a late run, ahead of an impressive Alex Albon in third for Williams.
Fernando Alonso took fourth place for local team Aston Martin, followed by Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.
Esteban Ocon claimed sixth in the Alpine, just in front of 2022 British GP winner Carlos Sainz in seventh.
McLaren’s upgrades and return to a Chrome livery gave a boost as Lando Norris took eighth and Oscar Piastri 10th for the Woking-based team despite a small hydraulic leak.
Lance Stroll was sandwiched between the two Macca’s in ninth.
Nyck De Vries survived a spin into the gravel at Luffield en route to 11th. Lewis Hamilton was the lead Mercedes in 12th as he and teammate George Russell opted not to complete a soft tyre run.
Pierre Gasly sat between the two Black Arrows in 13th, Valtteri Bottas was 15th, Yuki Tsunoda 16th and Logan Sargeant 17th.
Zhou Guanyu finished 18th and the two Haas’ brought up the field with Kevin Magnussen ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.