2025 British GP FP1: Silverstone Delivers Its Usual: Hype, Heartbreak, and a Shopping Trolley Red Bull

Circuit: Silverstone Circuit, U.K.
Race Laps: 52 | Lap Length: 5.891 km | Race Distance: 306.198 km
Lap Record: 1:27.097 – Max Verstappen (RBR, 2020)
Last Year Pole: 1:25.819 – George Russell (Mercedes)
Last Year Winner: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
Last Year Fastest Lap: 1:28.293 – Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

Hamilton’s FP1 Pace: The Eternal Hook

Silverstone FP1 once again gave fans exactly what they crave and fear: hope. Hamilton’s 1:26.892 headline time, ahead of Norris, Piastri, Leclerc and Russell, fired up the hype train instantly. And honestly, certainties in life remain: death, taxes, and FP1 overreactions.

Try not to get carried away, they say, but we all are. The McLarens will surely remove their sandbags by Saturday, Ferrari might switch off the ERS by accident, and Lewis will just casually find another tenth on Sunday’s damp British tarmac. It’s Silverstone. He’s worth a few tenths here by default. The hype is so powerful we’re all Matt Gallagher from P1 Podcast at this point: we swear we won’t fall for it, but we do, padded room ready.

It helps that the Mercedes looks more dialled in here than anywhere else. Cooler conditions should only help. If this order somehow holds, Hamilton, Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, it’ll have us tearing up like last year all over again. Or as one puts it: “Grazie Regazied all over myself.”

FP1 Certainties and the McLaren Caveat

Every fan knows the script: FP1 at Silverstone looks good for Mercedes and Lewis, but McLaren always improves on Saturday. They’ll unstrap the sandbags and boom, Norris and Piastri are right there. Meanwhile, Ferrari’s pit wall is already brainstorming how to complicate a perfectly straightforward Sunday. Hard–Hard–Hard–Soft strategy incoming.

As always, the hype train leaves the station the minute Lewis tops a session at home. We’re all hyperventilating, or “ultraventilating.” Will it hold up on Sunday? Maybe. Just pray for a sprinkle of rain and Ferrari forgetting they even have tyres.

Red Bull’s Friday: A GP2 Front End on a Shopping Trolley

If Mercedes fans have hopium, Red Bull fans are chewing down full packs of aspirin. Max Verstappen’s onboards looked genuinely shocking. He radioed in simply: “Unbelievable.” And it was, a car refusing to turn at all.

Balance? Feels good. Actually, much worse than before, amazing. Genuinely one of the worst onboards we’ve seen in recent memory. It makes the infamous F14T Ferrari look nimble. The GP2 front end jokes are back. One fan even called it “shopping trolley bad,” and honestly, that’s generous.

Red Bull has thrown upgrade after upgrade at this car, but each one seems to make it worse. They’ve gone from the unstoppable force in high-speed corners to being matched or beaten by McLaren and Ferrari. The word “TerriBull” is getting thrown around, alongside “Shitbull” and “soapbox derby cars have better control than this.”

And the questions grow: if this were just others catching up, why is Yuki Tsunoda falling off a cliff? He looked solid early in the season but now can’t get near the points. Private tests, more seat time, yet the performance is gone. Perez disappeared first, now it feels like Max is the only thing holding the car together. The once-dominant design may have just hit its ceiling.

Even the Red Bull facilities come under fire: the ancient wind tunnel jokes are back. Someone described it as a “barn full of holes and a guy blowing air out of his mouth.” At this rate, the soapbox derby cars they sponsor have better handling.

Broadcast Upgrades, Midfield Maybes

Elsewhere, Alpine continues its comedic streak: wormholes, vanishing transponders, and no meaningful upgrades until 2026. Flavio’s blame game will be in full swing soon enough. Gasly and Ocon will be left hoping for a rainy race and 18 DNFs.

Haas? Business as usual: FP1 at the back, maybe one car shines in quali, then they claw back on Sunday because somehow they’ve fixed their tire wear but can’t qualify to save their lives. Maybe Bearman gets a helping hand at home, maybe Ocon just spawns in the points mid-race like an NPC.

Meanwhile, the new broadcast brake pressure graphic stirred debate. Is it pedal travel, is it actual pressure, does it mean anything? Who knows. The consensus: more data is more fun, even if the audio sync is still a mess.

And Lindblad? He’s here early, living out that “see you in five years” line to Norris. Proud of the kid. Can’t wait for the avoidable penalties in 2026.

Silverstone FP1: Same Old, Same Old (And That’s Why We Love It)

Hamilton P1, the home crowd already dreaming, McLaren waiting to spoil the party, Ferrari plotting a strategy meltdown, and Red Bull with a car that turns like a damp shopping trolley. Throw in brake bars, padded rooms, and soapbox memes, that’s Silverstone. It’s only FP1, but the season feels so back.