Hamilton fastest at Silverstone, Grosjean crashes

SILVERSTONE, England: Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton had his home fans cheering with the fastest lap in Friday’s first practice for the British Grand Prix as Mercedes led one-two at the top of the timesheets.

The 33-year-old, who will be chasing his fifth successive Silverstone victory on Sunday and sixth in total at the former World War II airfield, lapped with a time of one minute 27.487 seconds.

That was more than half a second faster than Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who leads fellow four-times champion Hamilton by a point in the standings after nine of 21 races with three wins apiece.

Hamilton’s Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas, with a new engine in his car after last weekend’s retirement in Austria, was second fastest but 0.367 off the pace on a sunny morning at Silverstone.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo was fourth for Red Bull with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen fifth and Max Verstappen, winner in Austria for Red Bull, sixth.

The 20-year-old Dutchman ended the session early after he was told to stop the car.

Haas’s Romain Grosjean had a heavy crash at the fast first corner, slamming into the tyre barriers after failing to close the drag reduction system (DRS).