Team Summary:
With the start of the opening Friday practice session for the 2016 British Grand Prix both Williams drivers would complete their installation laps running on the medium tyre. They would pit only to return shortly after again on the medium tyre. After their first runs Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas were eleventh and fourteenth. Both drivers would pit after the first forty minutes as is the normal practice. For Williams Pat Symonds would explain that the team was "doing some power unit work and basic set-up work" in the first session of the day. Quickest at this time was Hamilton with a 1m:32.478 followed by Rosberg and Alonso.

Rosberg would go quickest with a 1m:31.687 while both Williams cars remained in their pits. It was reported that there was a noticeable difference in line taken at Stowe between the Williams drivers and the rest of the field. Both Valtteri and Felipe were having to turn in earlier and on a shallower line than the rest, Felipe more so than Valtteri. It appeared that there may be some rear instability with the FW38. Hamilton was again quickest with a 1m:31.654 as both Williams cars returned to the track. After their next runs Valtteri and Felipe were seventh and ninth. Several drivers were now on the soft tyre with Hulkenberg going third followed by Vettel and Perez all on the soft tyre.

With just over twenty five minutes remaining both Williams drivers would pit. Felipe would return to the track briefly but would again pit. After a short stop both drivers would return still on their used medium tyres. As more drivers moved onto the soft tyre Valtteri and Felipe would drop down to thirteenth and fourteenth. Both drivers were on long runs on the medium tyre. They would remain in this positions with the end of the session. Hamilton would remain quickest from Rosberg, Hulkenberg, Vettel, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, and Alonso tenth.

Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would follow Felipe out for his installation lap. After a short stop Valtteri would return to the track and his first timed lap was a 1m:35.084 which would see him third but he would drop to fourteenth with fifty minutes remaining. Replays would show Valtteri having to cope with oversteer out over the kerbs at Copse. After a fairly long stop Valtteri would return running on a new set of medium tyres. On his next run Valtteri would set a 1m:34.437 to be seventh. Button would move ahead seeing Valtteri now eighth. This would become tenth as others went quicker. Valtteri would pit having completed eight laps having been told to go straight into his garage. With just under twenty minutes remaining Valtteri would return still running on his used medium tyres. Valtteri would pit briefly having completed twenty one laps.

Felipe Massa:
After his installation lap Felipe would return and after his first timed lap would be fifth with a 1m:34.639 but would drop down the order to be eleventh with fifty minutes remaining. Felipe would follow his team-mate out also on new medium tyres. Felipe's next run would see him set a 1m:34.456 to be ninth then eleventh. Felipe would also pit briefly returning after a single lap having complete eight laps. Felipe would follow Valtteri back out also on his used set of medium tyres. Felipe would complete a total of eighteen laps on his medium tyres with the end of the session.

Pos  Driver         	Team		        Time     Laps
1  Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1m31.654s 30
2  Nico Rosberg		Mercedes		1m31.687s 34
3  Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1m32.492s 30
4  Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari			1m32.501s 20
5  Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	1m32.773s 30
6  Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari			1m33.039s 28
7  Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Renault	1m33.202s 22
8  Sergio Perez		Force India-Mercedes	1m33.235s 30
9  Carlos Sainz		Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1m33.446s 19
10 Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda		1m33.527s 22
11 Daniil Kvyat		Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1m33.738s 20
12 Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda		1m34.132s 24
13 Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1m34.263s 38
14 Felipe Massa		Williams-Mercedes	1m34.456s 34
15 Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari		1m34.547s 24
16 Jolyon Palmer	Renault			1m34.787s 29
17 Felipe Nasr		Sauber-Ferrari		1m34.805s 21
18 Charles Leclerc	Haas-Ferrari		1m35.869s 26
19 Esteban Ocon		Renault			1m35.980s 31
20 Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari		1m36.003s 19
21 Pascal Wehrlein	Manor-Mercedes		1m36.136s 25
22 Rio Haryanto		Manor-Mercedes		1m36.647s 29