Norris leads McLaren one-two in Silverstone practice

SILVERSTONE, England :McLaren's Lando Norris fired up the fans by starting his home British Grand Prix weekend in style on Friday, top of both practice sessions at Silverstone with teammate Oscar Piastri close behind.

The pair finished one-two on the timesheets in an uneventful second practice, with rain falling towards the end, after being first and third respectively in the opening session.

"We have made good progress. We are tight and even with Mercedes. They seemed just as quick as us but they didn’t turn up the engine. We are in a good place but we have more to find," said Norris.

"I wish the weather was better than it is but at least the rain held off for most of the day."

Red Bull's runaway championship leader Max Verstappen was fourth, but the fastest driver on the slower medium tyres, and seventh respectively.

Norris set a best time of one minute 27.420 seconds on softs in the first session, 0.134 faster than Aston Martin's Lance Stroll who had an upgraded front wing.

The Briton then put down a lap of 1:26.549 in the second.

Piastri, who had an hydraulics problem in the early afternoon, was 0.331 slower in the later session with Red Bull's Sergio Perez third.

Verstappen is 81 points clear of closest rival Norris after 11 of 24 races, with the pair fighting an increasingly tight battle on the track that belies the gulf in points.

"I think we shouldn't look too much at the classification of the two sessions, especially the second one because some drivers like Max went on soft tyres and low fuel early on," said McLaren boss Andrea Stella, mindful of the track evolving.

"We went on with a more normal timing, so did our laps a bit later. Definitely there are some encouraging indications from both sessions in terms of pace on a