PRACTICE: Slater makes statement of intent to kick off home weekend fastest

Freddie Slater was on it from the green light at Silverstone, setting a 1:46.161 to end Free Practice fastest overall for TRIDENT.

The Briton set his first flying lap time, and his benchmark remained unbeaten throughout, as he was followed by Campos Racing's Ernesto Rivera and teammate Matteo De Palo in third.

Tuukka Taponen set the initial benchmark time to beat early on, logging a 1:47.652 inside the opening 10 minutes before the track got busier.

Jin Nakamura was next to lead the way, 1:47.337 putting him P1 ahead of Taponen's initial effort with 30 minutes to run.

Slater was flying from the first lap of his weekend as he went to the top on a 1:46.161, over half a second quicker than next-best Rivera.

The Mexican driver cut the deficit to 0.266s on his next flying lap, with de Palo a further two-tenths back in third place with over 20 minutes to go.

Both Rivera and De Palo delivered improvements with 12 minutes to go, but neither could better Slater's initial time, closing the gap down to 0.15s and 0.212s respectively whilst staying P2 and P3.

Van Amersfoort Racing teammates Hiyu Yamakoshi and Enzo Deligny continued the team's impressive performances of late, slotting into fourth and fifth at the midway stage.

Campos Racing teammates Théophile Nael and Ugo Ugochukwu looked set to deliver an improvement in the final five minutes, but a Virtual Safety Car test meant they had to abandon their laps.

The VSC ran to the end of the session, leaving the top 10 unchanged with Nael sixth, Fionn McLaughlin seventh for Hitech and Ugochukwu in P8. TRIDENT driver Noah Stromsted was ninth ahead of Louis Sharp, who rounded out the top 10 for PREMA Racing.

Qualifying is set to get underway at 14:00 local time.