Max Verstappen set the early pace for Red Bull in a disrupted first practice session at the British Grand Prix.
Sunny skies and the 30-degree temperatures greeted teams at Silverstone on Friday, actually making conditions pretty unrepresentative with cooler weather expected on Saturday and Sunday.
As a result, running was quite subdued with only a handful of drivers surpassing 20 laps.
Of course, the big story heading into the session was the confirmation of Nico Hulkenberg returning to Formula 1 with Racing Point, replacing Sergio Perez who tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday.
Unsurprisingly, after such a late call, the German was a little off the pace in ninth, six-tenths behind the sister car of Lance Stroll in third, but he will have time to settle before qualifying on Saturday.
His return wasn't helped, however, by a lengthy red flag caused by Antonio Giovinazzi around half an hour into the 90-minute session.
The Italian lost the rear of his Alfa Romeo through Becketts with his flat-spotted tyres shedding rubber and other debris down the Hangar Straight.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 31, 2020
The resulting debris on the track from @Anto_Giovinazzi's spin has halted the session 🛑#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/tNBypWerSS
When practice resumed, it was Verstappen who used the soft tyres to good effect by leading Lewis Hamilton by almost half a second at the top of the timesheets
The Mercedes driver, and six-time winner of his home race, didn't appear too comfortable with his W11 in the hotter temperatures and wasn't a fan of the "awful" medium tyre he used either.
Stroll highlighted Racing Point's potential in third ahead of Alex Albon in fourth in the second Red Bull.
Charles Leclerc was fifth for Ferrari, who are running particularly skinny wings at Silverstone to counter their lack of top speed.
There was problems for teammate Sebastian Vettel though as he was unable to set a time due to an intercooler issue.
Valtteri Bottas was sixth using the hard compound on his Mercedes ahead of the two Renaults, where Esteban Ocon led teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Hulkenberg was ninth with Daniil Kvyat completing the top 10 for AlphaTauri.
Down the field, McLaren was a little off the pace in 12th and 13th as both drivers tested upgrades on the MCL35.
The two Haas cars followed in 14th and 15th ahead of Kimi Raikkonen as Williams struggled compared to recent races, with George Russell 2.4s off the pace in 17th and Nicholas Latifi a further eight-tenths back in 19th.
Full results can be seen below:
A lively first practice session at @SilverstoneUK 🔍#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/PmkI1aMZSZ
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 31, 2020
