Hamilton 'can dream of a strong' British Grand Prix result after impressive Friday practice pace

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton admits he "can dream of having a strong weekend" at the British Grand Prix after topping the first of Friday's practice sessions.

The seven-time World Champion enjoyed arguably his strongest Friday since joining the Scuderia at the start of 2025, having topped Free Practice 1 and finishing P3 in the afternoon session.

Hamilton, a nine-time F1 winner at Silverstone, believes Ferrari's pace was genuine and offers opportunities for Sunday's race.

"It was a really good day," he said. "Great to see the crowd. Amazing to be out on track in a Ferrari here at Silverstone.

"It's pretty incredible and also with McLaren and Red Bull having upgrades, so for us to be in the mix still given they have had a step today, it's really positive.

"I definitely feel like we can dream of having a strong weekend for sure. Executing and putting it all together and extracting it is another thing but I'll prepare myself the best I can to make sure we get the best result."

Hamilton secured his equal-best Grand Prix result for Ferrari last time out in Austria after finishing fourth and believes he is getting to grips with the SF-25 having been off the pace compared with team mate, Charles Leclerc.

"I'm progressing a lot now with the car and much more comfortable knowing where it needs to be," he added.

"I think by FP2 we still weren't where we needed to be, so definitely struggled a little bit more, but we know the changes that we need to make for the next session."

Leclerc also enjoyed a strong showing on Friday, finishing fourth in the first session and P2 during Free Practice 2.

While missing some one-lap pace compared to pacesetter Lando Norris and McLaren, Leclerc believes Ferrari's race pace will cause problems for the opposition on Sunday.

"The day was good," he said. We've been pretty strong so far so it's positive. I think we still need to find some pace in Qualifying.

"McLaren is once again probably the car to beat at the moment but in race pace I was happy. I'm finding my way, I'm changing quite a lot the car in weekends recently to try and find some pace in Qualifying.

"For now, I don't think I find a way for that, but in the race I'm really happy with where we are. I think we are very strong in the race but we've got to do a step forward in Qualifying."