LANDO NORRIS set the pace in practice for the British Grand Prix as the title contender laid down a marker today in pursuit of his first home victory.

Norris trails McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri by 15 points in the championship standings following his victory in Austria last weekend and is bidding to secure back-to-back Formula One wins for the first time.

The 25-year-old has his own grandstand at Silverstone, hosting 10,000 of his fans, and he delighted those supporters by setting a searing pace to end the day 0.222 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Crucially for Norris, who admitted on Thursday that he would swap his other race wins for success at Silverstone, he was over four tenths clear of Australian Piastri in fourth.

Lewis Hamilton raised hopes of more Silverstone success by enjoying a positive day in his Ferrari.

The seven-time world champion has a remarkable record at his home race, winning a record nine times at Silverstone including victory in the rain last year – with wet weather again forecast to affect the action across the weekend.

The 40-year-old has also finished in the top three in all of his last 11 appearances here but is yet to stand on the podium in Ferrari colours.

The Scuderia delivered an improved performance in Austria, with Leclerc third ahead of Hamilton in fourth.

Hamilton, whose streak of 11 races without a podium finish is the longest of his career, showed signs of ending his podium drought at his home race as he topped the charts in first practice before finishing the day third after the second running.

Max Verstappen endured another difficult day for Red Bull, complaining of handling issues and saying that his tyres would not respond in the high-speed corners.

The four-time world champion, who is 61 points adrift of Piastri in the title standings following his first-lap elimination in Austria, ended the day fifth fastest.

Mercedes pair Kimi Antonelli and George Russell were sixth and eighth respectively.

Briton Arvid Lindblad drove for Red Bull during first practice – becoming only the second driver under 18 to take part in a Grand Prix weekend, after Verstappen.

The 17-year-old delivered a respectable lap time to finish 13th.