Bottas seizes pole for 70th anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone

F1 Grand Prix, GP 70th Anniversary, Silverstone Circuit

Qualifying at Silverstone was again a Mercedes affair, but contrary to 7 days ago, Valtteri Bottas didn't miss the opportunity and beat teammate Hamilton by 0.063s. Racing Point's Hulkenberg qualified third quickest.

At 26°C ambient, and 43°C track, qualifying kicked off with Haas's Grosjean and Magnussen taking the track. They both opted for medium tyres, just like Russell did a few moments later. After these early laps, the Haas cars were switched to softs, just like with the other cars that gradually came out to set their first laps.

Hulkenberg was out early, and immediately went a full second faster than Grosjean. His time remained the best until Hamilton, Verstappen and Bottas improved on it. All others, including his teammate Stroll, were unable to beat that early time from Racing Points interim driver.

The final few minutes were a busy affair as well, with times improving all over the field. Albon, Gasly, Norris and Hulkenberg all improved on Hulkbenberg's time, while almost everybody behind also found some extra performance. Ocon, for instance, looked set for elimination until the final seconds when he managed to move up into 8th.

This once again meant that Russell made it through into Q2, contrary to Kvyat, Magnussen and Latifi. Both Alfa Romeos continued to struggle and will have to start the race from the back of the pack, with Raikkonen notably dead last, 0.060s slower than his teammate.

Romain Grosjean was the first to take the track in the second part of qualifying, this time on a used set of medium compound tyres. Both Mercedes soon joined the on-track action with new mediums as Verstappen went out on hard tyres.

The Mercedes immediately took control of the situation, followed by Ricciardo and Verstappen. Lance Stroll was 5th faster on his first lap, ahead of Albon. Hulkenberg had the best first sector, but went through the grass at Becketts and lots a full second, making that first lap of his just enough toe 13th fastest. Gasly made a similar mistake, but still ended up 10th with that attempt.

George Russell opted not to go out early, and instead put in an effort when others were preparing for their second runs. When he completed his lap, he was 12th fastest on the soft tyres.

While Ricciardo and Verstappen didn't bother coming out a second time, Hulkenberg rectified the situation and went second fastest on medium tyre. Gasly similarly moved up into 4th and Norris moved up into 10th, just making it into Q3.

As Leclerc also made it through for Ferrari, Vettel again did not, along with Ocon, Sainz, Grosjean and Russell.

The final shootout saw Hamilton take the initial advantage on softs, 0.116s ahead of Bottas. Ricciardo went third fastest on medium tyres, followed by Hulkenberg, Verstappen and Gasly.

The second outings saw Bottas complete his flying lap as one of the first, this time on medium tyres. The Finn didn't miss out, and seized the advantage, beating Hamilton by 0.063 seconds.

Hulkenberg was third fastest and Verstappen fourth after both men improved on softs to move past Ricciardo.