Quebec’s Lance Stroll capped a two-stage day at the British Grand Prix by scoring for the 10th time in the fastest free practice session on Friday at Silverstone.
Like two weeks in Montreal, rain played a role in the start of the Formula 1 weekend. Only 10 of the 20 drivers, including Stroll, completed a fast lap in practice one. The wet road completely convinced more than one person not to try their luck.
The Aston Martin representative went there for one last walk at the end of the session on the soft rubber, but lost control of his single-seater, which had settled into a gravel trap. This incident caused a red flag and the race organizers preferred to end the free practice a few minutes early. Walking around, he set the eighth fastest time (1 minute 51.243 seconds), having managed to complete five laps.
With a dry track, the cars were able to run more freely in the second practice of the day. Stroll, the 10th-fastest composer, rode 1:29.242, one second slower than Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), who moved into pole position on Friday.
“I think we completed some good laps today. [vendredi], despite the rain. I was able to adapt to the car, and my first experience with the upgrades was positive,” Strul told his team’s website, referring to the latest modifications to his AMR22.
“There are some small improvements that need to be made as we improve things, but we will continue to work tonight and tomorrow morning to be ready for the qualifiers,” he added.
Local favorites Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Lando Norris (McLaren) set the second and third fastest times, respectively.
Work will continue at Silverstone later on Saturday with the introduction of qualifying, which will precede the Grand Prix on Sunday.
