Lando Norris finished fastest in Free Practice 2 for the British Grand Prix, the McLaren driver besting the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
The Briton, who won last time out in Austria, posted a 1m 25.816s that left him 0.222s clear of Leclerc, and three-tenths faster than Hamilton, who had topped FP1 earlier in the day.
With wind speed high and impacting aerodynamic performance through the high speed turns at Silverstone, teams battled to find the optimum set-up in the changeable conditions.
Hamilton immediately continued his impressive Friday form, moving to the top of the times with his first flying lap on Pirelli’s medium tyre with a 1m 27.280s, as traffic became an issue for Norris and Liam Lawson.
Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri, who earlier had a radio message about the “gusty” conditions, moved to the top of the leaderboard after the opening 10 minutes, only to be immediately usurped by Hamilton and Isack Hadjar.
While Ollie Bearman complained of oversteer in his Haas, reigning World Champion Max Verstappen was also left frustrated, proclaiming over the radio: “Have you seen my front tyres in the high speed? They just don’t respond.”
Carlos Sainz soon suffered a harmless spin coming out of Luffield, with Williams Team Principal James Vowles stating “the gusts are definitely catching us out” during the session.
The second Ferrari of Leclerc took over from his team mate at the top of the times briefly but Hamilton, who has a record nine F1 wins at Silverstone, stamped his authority to go 0.295s clear on a 1m 26.592s after 20 minutes.
George Russell became the first driver to use a set of Pirelli’s soft tyre, the red-walled compound launching him up to first before Mercedes team mate Kimi Antonelli went 0.140s faster.
It left the benchmark at a 1m 26.383s, half a second faster than Hamilton’s best from FP1, approaching the halfway point of the one-hour session.
Times began to tumble as drivers performed Qualifying simulations, with Leclerc and then Norris going fastest, the former complaining of something wrong with the front-left tyre, stating there was “so much lap time in it”.
Hamilton abandoned his first flying lap on the softs, before moving up to P2 with his second effort, while Verstappen could only manage eighth, eight tenths in arrears on Norris’ 1m 25.816s, improving to fifth on his next run.
The McLaren driver’s time stood as the benchmark for the remainder of the session, making him the only driver to dip below the 1m 26s barrier as focus switched to long runs for teams.
As Leclerc and Hamilton completed the top three, Piastri sat in fourth, almost half a second behind his team mate but ahead of Verstappen and Antonelli.
The Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, Mercedes of Russell and the Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar and Lawson completed the top 10.
Alex Albon (P11) was the highest-placed of the Williams drivers, from Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto, the Brazilian back in his Kick Sauber after the seat was taken by Paul Aron in FP1.
Esteban Ocon finished 14th, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who had also missed FP1 with Arvid Lindblad taking his seat, with Sainz 16th and under investigation following his rejoin after his earlier spin.
Nico Hulkenberg, who had to avoid Sainz’s recovery, finished P17, as the Alpine’s of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto finished either side of Bearman in P19.