Mercedes Valtteri Bottas picked up where he left off in Austria last week, clocking in Friday morning at Silverstone with the fastest lap in FP1.
With a 1:29.106, the Finn beat the track's lap record, set by team mate Lewis Hamilton in Q2 last year.
The Brit was right on the heels of Bottas however, ending the session just 0.078 behind. Both drivers relied on Pirelli's Soft compound to set their fastest times.
The German squad's performance was rather ominous given that Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were about half a second adrift but on the theoretically faster Supersoft tyres.
It was a rather scrappy session for Ferrari, with both Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel appearing to struggle for grip, the latter spinning and forcing him into the pits for a tyre change.
Toro Rosso's Dany Kvyat was P7, just in front of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. Both McLaren drivers made it into the top ten, with Stoffel Vandoorne rounding out the group.
Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi slotted in for Kevin Magnussen at Haas and ended the session P16, four-tenths of a second off team mate Romain Grosjean.
British Grand Prix - Free Practice 1 results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:29.106s | 29 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:29.184s | + 0.078s | 29 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:29.604s | + 0.498s | 26 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:29.942s | + 0.836s | 19 |
| 5 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:30.137s | + 1.031s | 19 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:30.517s | + 1.411s | 19 |
| 7 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:30.895s | + 1.789s | 21 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:30.993s | + 1.887s | 20 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:30.999s | + 1.893s | 26 |
| 10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:31.041s | + 1.935s | 27 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:31.200s | + 2.094s | 24 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1:31.210s | + 2.104s | 32 |
| 13 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1:31.297s | + 2.191s | 34 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:31.610s | + 2.504s | 24 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1:31.684s | + 2.578s | 24 |
| 16 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Haas | 1:32.031s | + 2.925s | 24 |
| 17 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1:32.171s | + 3.065s | 19 |
| 18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:32.450s | + 3.344s | 16 |
| 19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1:33.029s | + 3.923s | 23 |
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:33.399s | + 4.293s | 26 |
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