Vettel shocks Hamilton, Gasly's timely retirement and more in British GP practice

Lewis Hamilton's bid for a record-breaking sixth British Grand Prix victory was checked on Friday as Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari displayed one-lap pace which could challenge Mercedes' Silverstone stranglehold. Max Verstappen crashed early in FP2, denting Red Bull's momentum after winning last time out in Austria.

MERCEDES RECOVERY CHECKED

An all silver FP1 top-two was to be expected, with Mercedes having won here in each of the past five years - the last four have all gone to Hamilton.

However, as the lap times tumbled in FP2, it was Vettel who ended the day quickest, a rare show of strength in practice from Ferrari.

Vettel's one minute 27.552 seconds was the best lap on qualifying sims, with Hamilton a tenth off the pace and Valtteri Bottas two more tenths further down.

#FP2 results...#BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/zQrNZGNNCG — GP Fans Global (@GPFansGlobal) July 6, 2018

The red cars are generally powered down on Fridays, especially Vettel's, before hitting their straps on a Saturday.

Whether Ferrari turned their cars up to send a message to Mercedes, or they have yet another jump to come remains to be seen.

Red Bull struggled to show their strengths, with Verstappen crashing out of FP2 and Daniel Ricciardo nearly a second down on Vettel's best time.

VIDEO: Verstappen crashes again!

Despite that, it appears pretty clear that Mercedes will not enjoy the same dominance they have here in recent years. Long winning runs in China, Canada and Austria have gone up in smoke for Mercedes in 2018 - will Silverstone follow?

GASLY'S SUSPICIOUS RETIREMENT

The following are factual statements...

Pierre Gasly is a Frenchman. Pierre Gasly is a football fan. Pierre Gasly ended his FP2 session just before 15:00 local time. France's World Cup quarter-final with Uruguay started at 15:00 UK time.

We weren't the only ones to notice the link!

.@PierreGASLY has pulled off the track at Turn 3 with an issue...

Suspiciously right before #URUFRA kicks off ???? — Toro Rosso (@ToroRosso) July 6, 2018

HOME HOPES RAISED BY ALONSO

Best of the rest honours went to... McLaren!

It's been a miserable week for the team, topped by Eric Boullier resignation from his racing director role, but Fernando Alonso went quicker than Renault, Haas and Force India in the midfield battle.

Whether that pace remains is perhaps unlikely, McLaren have been dismal in qualifying this year, but it at least gave the home fans something to cheer, with Williams occupying typically low places on the leaderboard and Stoffel Vandoorne going second-slowest among cars to run the full session.

Alonso also gave the fans some rare Friday excitement as he battled with Kevin Magnussen and Charles Leclerc in FP1 and FP2 respectively. Odd scenes for a practice session, for sure, but it made for better viewing!