Verstappen tops Perez to lead opening British Grand Prix practice

Max Verstappen started his pursuit of a sixth straight Formula 1 win by topping the opening practice session at the 2023 British Grand Prix.

The World Champion is going for a career-best win streak this weekend and was able to post the quickest time in the first 60-minute session at Silverstone.

He beat teammate Sergio Perez to top spot with the sister Red Bull machine 0.212s slower after the drivers completed their Soft tyre runs in the second half of the session.

Alex Albon was a surprise third for Williams as Lando Norris took eighth for McLaren.

The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell endured a tricky session with a lack of rear grip and oversteer from the W14, but the two did not complete Soft tyre runs, opting for the Hard and Medium rubber.

Verstappen tops the early times

In the opening minutes of the session, Verstappen pumped in a 1:30.443, which he soon whittled down to a 1:29.863, running on the Hard tyres.

After the initial laps had been completed, he led the times by 0.774s from Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari, although the Monegasque was on the Medium tyre.

Perez was in the garage during this stage of the running, but on his first proper run of the session, was able to post a 1:30.030 to go just a tenth off Verstappen as attention turned towards the Soft tyre runs.

Carlos Sainz initially pumped in a 1:29.537, before Leclerc slotted in behind to make it a Ferrari one-two on the timing screens, although the Monegasque would improve on a second push lap to a 1:29.280 and take top spot.

Esteban Ocon briefly went quickest for Alpine, before Albon posted a 1:29.089, ending just half-a-tenth off Perez's best effort.

Verstappen would find nearly 0.6s on his first attempt on a Soft tyre run to resume control of the session, with a second push lap bringing him a 1:28.600 to set the benchmark, with Perez 0.448s down at the flag - as he ran over a bin bag in the dying seconds of the session.

Albon impresses, Mercedes problems

Albon was able to out-pace both Fernando Alonso and the Ferrari pair with his best effort, with Alonso about a tenth and a half slower in the Aston Martin, having had a quiet start to the session.

Leclerc took fifth for Ferrari, with Ocon the filling in the sandwich as Sainz was seventh.

Norris was eighth for McLaren, with Lance Stroll and Oscar Piastri - now running the same upgrades as Norris had in Austria - 10th.

But it was a troubled session for Mercedes, with Hamilton 12th - behind Nyck de Vries - and Russell only 14th.

The W14 looked a handful with both drivers struggling with oversteer and a lack of rear grip as they did not run the Soft tyres.

Hamilton ended 1.168s down on Verstappen, but tyre adjusted should be in the mix with Alonso and the Ferrari pair.

Pierre Gasly took 13th for Alpine as the final six positions were filled by the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu.

The Haas pair of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were slowest of all, 1.785s and 1.991s down on Verstappen, respectively as a piece of car flew off Hulkenberg's VF-23 on the Hanger Straight.