Norris throwing down gauntlet to his title rivals

LANDO Norris set the pace in practice for the British Grand Prix as the title contender laid down a marker in pursuit of his first home victory.

- By PHILIP DUNCAN

Norris trails McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri by 15 points in the championship standings following his victory in Austria last weekend and is bidding to secure back-to-back Formula One wins for the first time.

The 25-year-old has his own grandstand at Silverstone, hosting 10,000 of his fans, and he delighted those supporters by setting a searing pace to end the day 0.222 seconds clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Crucially for Norris, who admitted on Thursday that he would swap his other race wins for success at Silverstone, he was over four-tenths clear of Australian Piastri in fourth.

Lewis Hamilton raised hopes of more Silverstone success by enjoying a positive day in his Ferrari.

The seven-time world champion has a remarkable record at his home race, winning a record nine times at Silverstone including victory in the rain last year - with wet weather again forecast to affect the action across the weekend.