Ferrari’s Aspirations: Hamilton Acknowledges Rivals as Norris and Piastri Boost Competition Ahead of British GP

Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari “can definitely dream” after a “really positive” Friday at the British Grand Prix.

Ferrari enjoyed their most competitive Friday of a disappointing season so far around a warm, but blustery, Silverstone.

Hamilton, the record nine-time winner of the race, set the pace in the opening session and although Lando Norris was quickest by two tenths of a second in the second session, both Ferraris remained inside the timesheet’s top three and within striking distance of McLaren.

“I definitely feel we can dream of having a strong weekend. But, executing and putting it altogether and extracting it is another thing,” said Hamilton, who is looking for a record-extending 13th consecutive podium at Silverstone.

“I will prepare myself the best I can to make sure we get the best result. Tomorrow [Saturday] there’s rain potentially coming and on Sunday as well, so I will try my hardest to make sure we are ready for that.”

Ferrari introduced a new floor to the Austrian Grand Prix last week which improved their SF-25 car as Leclerc finished on the podium and Hamilton in fourth, albeit a long way behind McLaren.

However, Ferrari are on par with McLaren if Friday’s running at Silverstone is anything to go by as Leclerc and Hamilton both completed their best times on second push laps, yet were still only a few tenths off Norris.

“It was a really good day. Great to see the crowd. Amazing to be out on the track in a Ferrari at Silverstone. It’s pretty incredible,” said Hamilton.

“McLaren and Red Bull had an upgrade so for us to be in the mix still, given they had a step, is really positive. I’m progressing a lot now with the car. I’m much more in the window where it needs to be.

“By P2 we still weren’t where we need to be, so in P2 we struggled more but we know the changes we need to make for the next session.”

Leclerc, who has been the stronger of the Ferrari drivers this year, said on the radio that his race set-up was “pretty good” but later confirmed they need to find “another step” for qualifying.

“The day was good. We have been pretty strong. We still need to find some pace in qualifying. McLaren is the car to beat but with race pace I was happy,” he said.

“I’m finding my way. I’ve changed the car a lot recently to find some pace in qualifying. I’ve not found a way for that but we are very strong in the race.”

McLaren: Ferrari are in the fight

Championship leaders McLaren, who have won eight of the season’s first 11 races and absolutely dominated last week in Austria for their fourth one-two of the year, saw enough on Friday to name the Scuderia as a big threat to them.

Norris said “the Ferraris have been very, very quick today and they shall be tomorrow”, while Oscar Piastri said: “It was a bit of a surprise. They looked good, both in the qualifying and long runs.

“They are in the fight this weekend, which is interesting to see.”

And George Russell, whose Mercedes team again struggled in the heat on Friday and finished outside the top five, added: “Ferrari have turned it up the last couple of races. They have been strong on race pace all season but had bad qualifyings.”

For all that, McLaren are still likely to remain favourites for Saturday’s pole position, particularly with Norris having seemingly carried his fine form from Austria over to his home event.

The Briton topped the Ferraris by two tenths of a second although, as usual, played down the significance of McLaren’s apparent Friday advantage.

“I think we have a bit of work to do, to be honest,” he insisted.

“It looks maybe a bit too good today, like always. Ferrari always catch up into P3 like they did last weekend so I’d say pleased with today but nothing to be too proud about just yet.”

Norris is, however, targeting a first Silverstone pole position in front of his very own grandstand for the first time – the ‘Landostand’, located on the outside of Stowe corner which is sold out with 10,000 fans.

“That’s my target. I’m working on it,” said Norris when asked about pole position.

“[The grandstand] is incredible. I look at it every single lap. It’s hard to miss so every lap I’m forced to look at it but it’s also a great thing to see. And if it’s distracting me it’s distracting others, so it’s working perfectly! Keep it up.”

Piastri finished almost half a second behind Norris on the timesheet and admitted his quickest lap on the soft tyre “had been a bit messy”.

However, the 15-point championship leader remained content with where he stood.

“The potential is definitely there and the long runs looked solid as well,” added Piastri. “An interesting day and I think a lot of competition.”

Verstappen: Red Bull lacking performance

Max Verstappen suffered understeer throughout Friday and was half a second off the pace in second practice. However, Red Bull traditionally make a big leap forward overnight into Saturday and Christian Horner says the team should be able to “tidy up” the balance of the car and its new floor.

“We are giving away 90 cent of our lap time in Turns 6 and 7, so the slow speeds turning back into the wind, but the rest of the lap is looking pretty decent,” said Horner.

“The long run is looking pretty decent so I think we’ve got something to work with, we’ve just got to tune it the right way.”

Verstappen was less optimistic and said he had “no balance in the car” which made it “very difficult from corner to corner”.

“Every week is different scenarios. Now with the wind around here it seems our car is quite sensitive to it. But, in general, it’s not been an easy day,” he said.

“Maybe a few that we will look at but I think overall we are just lacking a bit of performance.”

The track temperature at Silverstone was near 40C which hurt Mercedes as Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were over five tenths off the pace in both sessions.

Russell says he is hoping for rain on Saturday, with a 40 per cent chance of rain affecting qualifying.

“We are hoping it cools down for the rest of the weekend. It’s frustrating that every single week we are at the mercy of the weather,” he said.

“We need to improve that, especially now we are in the summer months. We are doing everything we can to improve it.

“Our fortunes will turn for the rest of the weekend and it will come towards us, but we can’t be at the mercy of the weather and we are right now. If it’s wet in qualifying, I will be excited for that!”

Sky Sports F1’s British GP schedule

Saturday July 5
9.10am: F3 Sprint
11.15pm: British GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: British GP Qualifying build-up*
3pm: BRITISH GP QUALIFYING*
4.55pm: F4 Race 1
5.40pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday July 6
8.15am: F4 Race 2
9.25am: F3 Feature Race
11am: F2 Feature Race
1.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: British GP build-up*
3pm: THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX*
5pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction*
6pm: Ted’s Notebook*

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Next up in the 2025 Formula 1 season is the big one, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone – live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase with Sunday’s race at 3pm. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.