Hamilton second in Grand Prix practice

Lewis Hamilton took second place in practice for the British Grand Prix yesterday.

The seven-time world champion, who has been at the centre of Formula One’s racism row which has dominated the build-up to this weekend’s event, finished just 0.163 seconds behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, with Lando Norris third for McLaren.

Hamilton’s encouraging lap in front of his home crowd comes just days after it emerged triple world champion Nelson Piquet had aimed a racist slur at the British driver in a podcast recorded last November.

Piquet apologised to Hamilton – insisting the offensive term was mistranslated.

But fresh footage emerged yesterday, from a separate interview, in which the Brazilian used homophobic language when speaking about Hamilton.

The 69-year-old has been banned from the paddock.

Hamilton might be 98 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen heading into the 10th round of 22.

But his form here – although times in practice have to be treated with caution – will give him some hope that he could challenge the front-runners at a track where he has won a record eight times.

Ahead of first practice, which was effectively a washout following persistent drizzle, Hamilton bowed to the sport’s regulator by removing his nose stud.

His extraordinary 180mph opening-lap collision with nemesis Verstappen at the same venue last year still remains raw for some and the Dutch driver was booed by a number of fans.

Verstappen, who holds a 46-point lead at the summit of the standings, finished fourth.