Verstappen takes pole position for the 2021 F1 British Grand Prix after a fantastic first-ever F1 Sprint

Max Verstappen made the first-ever F1 Sprint count as he was able to get ahead of Lewis Hamilton to get pole position for the British Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion starts from second for the race on Sunday with Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in third.

The Dutchman scored an extra three points as he extended his championship lead by one point with Sunday’s race crucial for Mercedes with one Red Bull is out of the battle.

Starting Grid

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Home-hero Lewis Hamilton lined up on pole position ahead of Championship leader Max Verstappen, who joined the Mercedes driver on the front row of the grid.

Valtteri Bottas started from third with Charles Leclerc putting his Ferrari into an impressive fourth. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez qualified fifth ahead of Lando Norris in sixth, Daniel Ricciardo in seventh, George Russell in eighth, Carlos Sainz in ninth and Sebastian Vettel in 10th.

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso narrowly missed out on the top 10 with the Spaniard in 11th with Pierre Gasly also missing out on the top 10 as he qualified 12th.

Alonso’s Alpine teammate, Esteban Ocon, started from 13th ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi in 14th, Lance Stroll in 15th, Yuki Tsunoda in 16th, Kimi Raikkonen in 17th, Nicholas Latifi in 18th and the two Haas’ of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin at the back of the grid in 19th and 20th.

As It Happened

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Verstappen got the better getaway as the Red Bull moved first ahead of Hamilton into turn one. The Mercedes driver tried to get past the Red Bull but the Dutchman held onto the lead and looked destined for pole position.

Mazepin saw himself get close to his teammate Schumacher which sent the Russian into a spin. Sainz and Russell also got close to each other with the former losing positions and dropping down to 18th.

The driver that made up the positions on the opening lap was Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was able to get himself up to fifth after starting 11th for the Sprint.

After avoiding Russell, Sainz made his way up to 15th after lap four with the Ferrari man making his way past Giovinazzi.

The battle for fifth ensued, but Perez saw himself spin as he got on the throttle early in the middle of Becketts which dropped him down to 19th.

With Perez out of the battle, Norris had Alonso in his sights and the McLaren made the move on the Alpine to get up into fifth place.

At the halfway point, Verstappen led the Sprint ahead of the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas in second and third. Leclerc followed in fourth with Norris in fifth, Alonso in sixth, Ricciardo in seventh, Vettel in eighth, Russell in ninth and Ocon in 10th.

The McLaren of Ricciardo was finally able to follow his teammate into making a pass on Alonso with the Australian up to sixth.

Sainz made up another place after his first lap incident as the Ferrari driver moved up to 11th ahead of Gasly out of the Vale chicane.

Perez was forced to retire from the race as his team called him back into the pits as the Mexican will start from the back of the grid tomorrow.

It was his Red Bull teammate, Verstappen, who picked up the first-ever F1 Sprint win as he’ll start from pole position ahead of championship rival, Lewis Hamilton in second and Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas in third.