SILVERSTONE, Great Britain -- In theory, the Silverstone circuit should be the perfect circuit for this year's Mercedes. Fast, flowing corners and long straights play to the emerging strengths of the W11, meaning, on paper at least, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas should be in a race of their own on Sunday.
However, where it mattered on Friday, on a scorching 50 degrees Celsius track, there were signs that Mercedes' rivals might have closed the gap ahead of this weekend's Briitsh Grand Prix.
Racing Point's Lance Stroll finished the day fastest, while Bottas could only manage third and Hamilton ended up fifth behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.