liveUpdated 41s agoFollow live updates from the only practice session of the weekend ahead of Sprint Qualifying today.The Athletic’s F1 TeamJuly 3, 2026 at 6:12 AM EDTGeorge Russell got his campaign back on track last time out GettyWhat did Piastri and Norris have to say? Getty ImagesThe notion of Piastri leaving McLaren is nothing new. In May, rumors emerged that Red Bull had made him its top target if Verstappen were to leave.But as he made clear to me in an exclusive interview ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, his goal is to become a world champion with McLaren. Brown echoed as much, brushing off any possible interest in the Australian.“I’m very happy where I am,” Piastri reiterated on Thursday in Austria. “I’ve been told multiple times the team is happy with me, and I trust them. So for me, it doesn’t really mean much. I have a contract in place as well, so it definitely doesn’t change anything. Just try to build on the success that we’ve had.”Norris was in a jovial mood in the press conference, and quipped that “a lot of drivers want to come to McLaren” when he was asked about Verstappen. “I don’t know why you just highlight Max,” he said. “There are quite a few others that I know that want to come as well. It's a cool thing.”Norris has always held an admiration for Verstappen, and said it was “a cool thing” for a driver of his ability to be linked with McLaren. “If there's an opportunity for me to drive with other people, it's something I've always looked forward to,” said Norris. “But it's not a thing for now. It's not a serious thing.“I'm just excited for my future with McLaren. I'm still going to be here for many, many more years. I'm excited for whoever I get partnered with.“For the time being, me and Oscar are working very well together. We're excited to work together for more years too. That's our focus for now.Max Verstappen’s response to McLaren links Getty ImagesOne of the big storylines in F1 over the past couple of weeks has surrounded Max Verstappen’s future and links to what would be a shock, sensational move to McLaren for 2027.As Madeline detailed earlier this week, a conversation between Verstappen’s management and McLaren has brought the four-time world champion’s future into the spotlight.In recent days, the messaging from McLaren CEO Zak Brown has been clear: there’s no plan to divert from the existing (and thus far successful) partnership of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for the foreseeable future.A question about the links to McLaren was put to Verstappen during his media session on Thursday at Silverstone, but he brushed it off and said there was no update to provide on his future.“I’m not going to involve myself in that,” said Verstappen. “I’ve said what I wanted to say already before. If there’s something new or something that changes, you’ll hear it from me and not from someone else writing it, right?"I just focus on the job that I have with my team. We’re on the way up, and that’s really nice to see. I had a really positive weekend in Austria. We just try to improve from there further. I know it can be quite tough, there’s a lot of competition, but we’re here to just try and go fast.”And as we know in F1, there’s a difference between conversations and conversations in terms of their seriousness. Verstappen’s camp and McLaren have spoken in the past, prior to Piastri signing his latest long-term contract at the start of 2025, simply to get an idea of where both teams are at with their futures.https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7405596/2026/06/30/max-verstappen-f1-mclaren/Engine angst high at Silverstone Getty ImagesThe way the engines will be so energy starved here thanks to Silverstone's long straights, fast corners and few braking zones is already a big discussion point. Get ready for the cars to sound very different compared to past races here, with some of the track's most famous corners set to be "charging stations" - per Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso - so the engines have more electricity for the straights.Luke Smith, Madeline Coleman and Sam went around the paddock on Thursday listening to what the drivers thought of this and understanding where the cars will be most impacted.https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7417245/2026/07/02/silverstone-f1-cars-engines/Luke also heard from several of the championship's big hitters for their thoughts on other topics.The problem with sprints Getty ImagesWhile he was in the press conference, Hamilton revealed something that I think will play out over the sprint weekend, at least based on what happened in Miami. This is how the teams only have the sole practice session to get their engine energy deployment settings right. In Miami, McLaren nailed this immediately and duly won the sprint race with Lando Norris. But when the rest of the leading teams were able to make adjustments ahead of main race qualifying, things turned around and Mercedes was back on top, along with Red Bull and Ferrari."Everyone’s working really hard to understand it and to make sure we arrive at the best deployment strategy we can have and most efficient," Hamilton said. "But more often than not, you get out of the session and you realize that there’s areas that we can improve on, so it’s just how quick we can adapt. It’s just all about being as adaptive as you can be."The reason why the old sprint format was better, to me, is that his meant a team was locked in early on to car set-up and that meant there was more jeopardy they'd get it wrong and that would shake up the grid order.Welcome to the British Grand Prix Getty ImagesGood morning a welcome to sunny Silverstone - not a phrase you can say every day at the home of the British Grand Prix. But enough of that most most British of things (talking about the weather). It's nearly time for the cars to hit the track for the weekend's sole practice session. This gets underway at 12:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET) and will last for one hour.Is Hamilton in the title fight? Getty ImagesWhat F1 wouldn't give for such needling drama of 2021 in the 2026 title fight. Currently Kimi Antonelli leads by 40 points for Mercedes, ahead of his teammate and Austria winner last week, George Russell.Even around their wildly contrasting fortunes so far in 2026, their title battle has not turned bitter. This stands in contrast to the last time two Mercedes teammates really fought for the crown - when Hamilton was partnered with Nico Rosberg in 2014-2016 and Mercedes first shot to the front of the pack in F1's turbo hybrid engine era.In 2026, Hamilton has begun to interlope into the Mercedes battle, as his win in Spain showed Ferrari can disrupt things for his old squad. But, is he title contender? This was Hamilton's reply to that question in the Silverstone pre-event press conference here at the track on Thursday:"It’s also early. I mean, Kimi is far ahead. That is still a lot of points ahead, and he pulled some more points ahead in the last race. So that’s why I said (the Austria result was) a good reality check for us, but it’s not over till it’s over. Every single person is so geed up and pushing as much as they can, so that’s all I can ever ask for."A first Silverstone sprint since 2021 Getty ImagesThere's only one practice session because this is the 2026 season's fourth sprint weekend, in what is a rather front-loaded spread for such events after the cancellation of the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.It's the first sprint race at Silverstone since the track hosted F1's very first sprint race back in 2021.That race was won by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, which was a result that ended up having quite a significant impact on the full grand prix the following day. Because, back then, the sprint race result set the grid for the main race (as an aside, it was a far better format for this reason, which I'll get to later). And Verstappen's 2021 title rival, Lewis Hamilton, knew he couldn't risk letting the Red Bull get clear again early on a take repeat of his serene drive to the sprint win the day before.When the 2021 British GP started, Hamilton sent his Mercedes up the inside at Copse, Verstappen held his line, and the rest is history - the Dutchman sent to the barriers and out, while Hamilton copped a penalty but still won.