The China Mail - Norris tops Silverstone practice as Horner quizzed over Verstappen

In gusty conditions at the former airfield circuit in central England, the 25-year-old Briton clocked a best lap in one minute and 25.816 seconds to outpace Charles Leclerc by 0.222 seconds.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, a record nine-time winner of his home race, was three-tenths adrift in third after topping FP1, his first practice success since last year's Las Vegas Grand Prix and his first with Ferrari.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri, who leads Norris by 15 points, was fourth in the second McLaren ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen, who spent much time grumbling about the balance and performance of his Red Bull.

Kimi Antonelli was sixth for Mercedes ahead of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, George Russell in the second Mercedes and RB rookies Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson.

"That was a good lap from Lando," said McLaren chief Zak Brown.

"But Ferrari look very strong here and they’re fast on both one lap and on race runs."

After a fevered break replete with rumour in the paddock Red Bull boss Christian Horner did little to quell stories claiming Verstappen was bound for Mercedes even when a chance to categorically deny it was presented to him.

- Max exit clause -

"Contracts between the drivers and the team are always going to remain confidential," he told a news conference.

"And with any driver's contract, there is an element of performance mechanism and that exists within Max's contract.

"Now, absolutely, his intention is that he will be there and driving for us in 2026. It's inevitable that he's of huge interest to any other team and in the pit lane."

Horner's comments confirmed the existence of an exit clause for Verstappen that, it is widely believed, may permit him to agree to join another team if he is outside the top three in the drivers’ championship at the end of July.

All of this was only a slight distraction from Hamilton's performance in topping the times in FP1 for Ferrari, his first practice success since last year's Las Vegas Grand Prix with Mercedes – and he began FP2 in the same vein by clocking 1:27.280 to set the pace on mediums.

After briefly being overhauled by the McLaren duo, he trimmed his time to 1:26.902 while Verstappen was complaining "Have you seen my front tyres in the high speed? They just don't respond".

He was 10th after 20 minutes when Carlos Sainz, affected by the wind, spun his Williams out of Luffield and almost hit Nico Hulkenberg before Hamilton regained top spot from Leclerc by three-tenths in 1:26.592.

The top men bolted on softs with 30 minutes remaining and after Mercedes briefly took control, Leclerc went fastest ahead of Piastri before Norris delighted his fans, in the grandstands named after him, in 1:25.816 to move clear.

M.Chau--ThChM