Home-hero Hamilton takes sprint race pole around a sun-drenched Silverstone in F1’s experimental British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton will start Saturday’s first-ever Formula One sprint race from pole position after a stellar qualifying display on a stunning, picturesque, summer’s evening at Silverstone.

The Brit outqualified Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas and the leading duo at the top of the Championship go head-to-head once more.

Q1

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Carlos Sainz was the first driver to emerge from the pit lane in a Friday qualifying session for the first time since 2003 ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.

The session’s first times were soon set as Lando Norris went quickest with a 1:28.277, just two-tenths quicker than Antonio Giovinazzi and Pierre Gasly.

Williams’ George Russell completed his first flying lap of Q1 moments later as he slotted himself into ninth, just under eight-tenths behind his compatriot on provisional pole.

Seven-time British Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton went quickest with a 1:27.160 which led to a ripple of cheers and applause from the sell-out Silverstone crowd.

Championship leader Max Verstappen set his first time in the session and knocked Hamilton off the top spot by four-tenths of a second. The Red Bull man set a 1:26.751 despite a scruffy run through the Club chicane as he narrowly ran over the kerb.

With just over six minutes to go, Charles Leclerc lost control of his car at Club but regained control, similarly to Verstappen which forced him to abort his lap.

Gasly set a competitive time which promoted the AlphaTauri man up to fifth, his time was just under nine-tenths slower than Verstappen’s provisional pole time.

With two minutes left, Norris set an impressive time of 1:27.444 which promoted him to third.

A late flurry of times were set which saw four drivers jump up into the top three, including Esteban Ocon, however, it was Verstappen who ended the first part of qualifying at the summit of the timings ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc in third.

The five drivers eliminated from Q1 were Yuki Tsunoda, Kimi Raikkonen, Nicholas Latifi, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Q2

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The first cars out on track at the start of Q2 were the Mercedes duo Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas ahead of McLaren’s Norris.

Hamilton set his first banker time of the session with a 1:26.602, sending him to the top of the timesheets with over 10 minutes of the session remaining.

His pole-crown was shortly snatched back by Verstappen by just under a tenth of a second. Seconds later, Russell placed himself into seventh with a 1:27.521.

With seven minutes of the session remaining, Leclerc narrowly beat Russell to seventh – but his Ferrari teammate Sainz soon snatched the place away from the Monegasque.

Five minutes later, cars took to the track once more to start their final runs in Q2 as they tried to find a spot in the top 10 that would see them advance into the pole position shootout.

Hamilton finished the session with a 1:26.023 before the session’s late times were set. This included Russell moving into seventh as the chequered flag was dropped.

The top three finishers in Q2 were Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas and those eliminated included Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Antonio Giovinazzi and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

Q3

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The first drivers to take to the track in Q3 were Sainz, Perez and Norris – the trio were shortly followed out by the rest of the Q3 runners

Perez set the first time in Q3 which was a 1:26.884 but the Red Bull man’s time was soon beaten by Hamilton and Verstappen with five minutes to go. The Brit set a 1:26.134, with the Dutchman just under two-tenths behind.

Russell was the solo runner two minutes later as he set a 1:26.971 which saw the Williams man move into seventh which saw the crowd go ecstatic and was given a standing ovation on his cool-down lap.

With a minute of the session remaining, drivers set their final times to try and get themselves onto pole position for Saturday’s Sprint Race.

Hamilton set a strong lap time, however, failed to improve as he was cost by a small snap of oversteer on the exit of Club, but it wouldn’t matter as Verstappen also failed to improve meaning. That meant, Lewis Hamilton would start F1’s inaugural sprint race from pole position ahead of Verstappen and Bottas.

Perez momentarily moved up to fourth ahead of Leclerc but his time was deleted due to a track limits infringement at Stowe so the Mexican was demoted back to fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 was Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, George Russell, Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel.

What’s Next?

Lewis Hamilton starts from the front of the field in Formula 1’s first-ever sprint race. The Brit will look to finish on top which would see him earn an extra three points and potentially a front-row once more for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

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