Bottas fastest, Hamilton 2nd as Mercedes show dominant form
Several cars spin, including Ferraris
Hamilton bidding for fifth British Grand Prix win
Valtteri Bottas is the in-form driver at the moment and his victory in Austria last-time out has arguably brought him into the title fight. He's just 15 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the championship.
He's just gone quickest with a 1:29.876 on softs. Hamilton had briefly held top spot before him following a 1:30.442.
Your ideal British Grand Prix circuit?
Chris Marsh: British GP around the M25. BUT leave the other traffic on it to make it more "fun". I can hear Seb moaning about blue flags already!
Hmm. Sebastian Vettel, sans shield, makes a mistake coming out onto to Chapel. The back end snaps away as he takes the corner and he spins.
Vettel pits to see if that resulted in any damage. Didn't look like it, though.
Max Verstappen is warned about some debris on the track, which is from Felipe Massa's Williams after he hit the kerb at Copse a bit too heavily.
The debris dodging doesn't prevent Verstappen from posting a new benchmark - a 1:30.957.
Here's a close up of Sebastian Vettel's shield. He's had it removed since and is back out on the track now.
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Speaking of Daniel Ricciardo, he was in superb form in yesterday's news conference when he responded to a question about Sebastian Vettel's recent birthday party.
The actual day of Vettel's 30th birthday was spent at FIA's headquarters in Paris as he was summoned to explain his swerve into Lewis Hamilton during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Since then, though, the birthday bash has taken place Ricciardo was there as soon as he heard about free booze.
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Daniel Ricciardo joins Kimi Raikkonen on the track, softs on his Red Bull.
Dan is Mr Consistency at the moment. He's been on the podium in each of the last five races, finishing third in four of them and winning the race in Azerbaijan.
The first time is up on the board with just over 20 minutes gone. Kimi Raikkonen clocks 1:32.533 on the super-softs.
Fancy some more behind the scenes images from Silverstone? Our colleagues at BBC Radio Northampton are at the circuit and you can follow their updates here.
Kimi Raikkonen breaks the silence, slapping a set of super-soft tyres on his Ferrari before heading back out onto the circuit.
Your ideal British Grand Prix circuit?
Joe Fallowell: How about the Coventry ringroad for the new British GP, including chaotically short on- and off-slips and weaving sections?
Image source, .This hurts my eyes!
It's all quiet on the track now as everyone heads back to base. There's some blue skies above Silverstone now as the television camera sweeps over the nearby campsites.
A very early birthday card. Fernando Alonso doesn't turn 36 until 29 July.
The Spaniard won't be in the greatest moods to celebrate this weekend anyway. He is poised to start the British Grand Prix from the back of the grid following fresh engine penalties.
McLaren's engine partner Honda says the two-time champion will receive a five-place grid drop for using too many examples of a specific engine part.
Honda expects further penalties when it finalises its plans for the race after Friday practice.
Thomas Cunningham: Fernando Alonso accepting an early birthday card from a fan.
Image source, .Woops! An error by Max Verstappen as he misses his pit box.
After retiring from five of the last seven races, he'll be hoping that's the only error he makes this weekend.
Does anyone really care that Lewis Hamilton opted for a little break over a PR event? The fans in the below video don't appear to.
The below tweet has also taught me that there is an emoji for 'selfie'. You learn something new every day...
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Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Silverstone
Among the many topics buzzing around the F1 paddock as people arrived for the British Grand Prix was Robert Kubica’s test for Renault at Paul Ricard on Wednesday.
This was to evaluate whether he can return to F1 following six years of recovery and rehabilitation from the terrible injuries he suffered in a rallying crash in 2011.
Renault are being super-cagey about it but the word is that it went rather well. Kubica - who was rated as one of the top drivers in F1 before his accident - said that despite the limited movement in his right arm and hand it did not affect his driving.
Renault are saying it’s “too early” to say what the next steps are, but Kubica said “it would take me two days of tests in a current car” to be ready for a race. Some in F1 now think it likely he will do the test immediately after the Hungarian Grand Prix. And if that goes well… well, why wouldn’t he race? Had someone said that two months ago, that would have sounded incredible, perhaps even ridiculous. But not any more.
First radio message of the morning comes from Romain Grosjean. A moan? Not this time. It's a lovely little rendition of 'Happy Birthday to you', aimed at 'Simsy'. I believe that's Dan Sims, Grosjean's physio.
Lewis Hamilton is out on the track now, so all 20 drivers have had a venture round the circuit.
Nineteen drivers on the track, the only one missing? Lewis Hamilton.
Nineteen drivers were at the F1 Live event in London. The only one missing? Lewis Hamilton.
Bit of a theme going on there...
Image source, Getty Images
Jennie Gow
BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter
It really is like the old school visors you used to get on the cars. I will try to get a picture and we will get it up online. It looks like a more eloquent solution but it will be interesting to hear Sebastian Vettel's comments.