By Alan Baldwin
SILVERSTONE, England (Reuters) – Formula One leader Max Verstappen led Sergio Perez in a Red Bull one-two in opening practice for the British Grand Prix on Friday, with Alex Albon a surprise third fastest for Williams.
The Dutch double world champion lapped on a sunny day at Silverstone with a best time of one minute 28.600, with Mexican Perez, his closest title rival but a hefty 81 points behind, 0.448 slower.
Verstappen has won seven of nine races this season and is chasing his sixth in a row.
Red Bull have won every race so far and, when last year’s final is added to the tally, are chasing an 11th in a row to equal the 1988 McLaren record set by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
Albon was 0.489 off the pace with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso fourth, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fifth and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon sixth.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, last year’s winner, was seventh on the timesheets.
Leclerc had been top with 15 minutes to go before Verstappen put down a marker and then went even faster.
Mercedes made a slow start to the weekend, with seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton only 12th and team mate George Russell 14th, but they were the only ones not to use the soft tyres.
Hamilton reported that his car was bouncing badly halfway through the session.
“The car is all over the place at (turns) six and seven,” reported Russell.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was eighth fastest with Australian team mate Oscar Piastri 10th. Both had the latest upgrades on their cars after just Norris in Austria, where he finished fourth.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Clare Fallon)
