Verstappen beats McLarens to secure pole position at Silverstone
Max Verstappen took pole position for the British Grand Prix by setting the fastest time in today's tight Qualifying session at the high speed Silverstone circuit. McLaren's Oscar Piastri was disappointed by his final lap and ended up second while home driver Lando Norris was third fastest.
With clouds nearing the circuit and chances of rain increasing it was the Kick Sauber duo of Hulkenberg and Bortoleto who took to the track first. Bortoleto recorded a solid lap and turned out faster than his teammate due to a snap of oversteer for the German at Club Corner, forcing him to get off throttle and lose time.
Lance Stroll was next up and faster but also quickly improved upon by Gasly and Colapinto with Albon doing another 6 tenths better. As these completed their laps Verstappen neared the finish line to start his first push lap. Antonelli followed 10 seconds down the road.
Verstappen went fastest while Antonelli couldn't improve on Albon's time. Norris slotted into second with the Ferrari duo and Russell only a tiny bit slower that him. Oscar Piastri on the other hand did better and emerged at the top of the timing sheet, albeit just a few hundredths faster than Verstappen.
Amid those laps, Alonso was also on track and surprised by going 3rd fastest, ahead of Norris, Russell, Hamilton, Hadjar, Bearman, Leclerc and Albon.
A minute later Colapinto lost the rear of his Alpine when accellerating out of Club Corner, spinning into the gravel and stopping after kissing the tyre barrier. The driver still kept the car going and managed to drive out of the gravel trap but continued on slowly on the pit straight before parking it near the pit exit. This obviously forced a red flag to clear the car before the session could continue.
About 15 minutes later the session continued with 6 minutes and 40 seconds remaining. As cars got out of their boxes quite a few drops of rain were falling in the pitlane and the start-finish straight. It wasn't a great deal but definitely more with Hamilton soon reporting "the track is not the same. Definitely more slippery".
When 3 minutes remained only Alonso and Colapinto were still not on track. On-track some drivers still managed to improve. Tsunoda moved up to 6th, Bearman up to 3th and Antonelli 8th.
The improvements suddenly caused some worry for Hamilton, required to return to the pits due to a lack of fuel for another attempt. As Leclerc improved to 9th, Lawson failed to get ahead of Hamilton, and so did Gasly, but it was enough for Gasly to make it through as 15th while Hamilton also made it in 14th.
Lawson, Bortoleto, Stroll, Hulkenberg and Colapinto were out. Margins were tiny though as Lawson was only half a second off the pace setter.
Verstappen opened proceedings in Q2 with fresh soft tyres and immediately proved a time that many could use as a target. In fact only Norris managed to improve on it on his first attempt while Norris set the exact same laptime as Verstappen.
Russell slotted into 4th with Alonso going 5th despite reporting being hampered by Antonelli: "What was that? I mean it's good, he will get a penalty and it would get us a place".
Sainz and Albon set the 6th and 7th time, followed by Hadjar, Bearman and Ocon. Hamilton and Leclerc had a poor first lap but were sent out on the tyres they already used in Q1, contrary to everybody else. Ferrari have really created some pressure for themselves here as that tyre choice meant both their drivers needed a strong second outing to make it through. Antonelli, Gasly and Tsunoda were in a similar situation and very much needed an improvement to make it through.
Verstappen was again the first one to start the second lap. It wasn't an improvement but the Ferraris both had amazing pace and easily jumped to the top of the timesheet with Hamilton about 5 hundredths faster than his team mate.
Q3 had everybody start on a fresh set of soft tyres, except for Russell. Verstappen was once again out first but it was Piastri who proved fastest. Hamilton and Norris slotted in between the two moments later, relegating Verstappen to 4th. Leclerc only managed 5th, followedby Russell, Alonso, Bearman, Antonelli and Gasly.
For the second attempt the McLarens led the field while Red Bull and Verstappen mixed things up and remained in the pits to position themselves last to cross the finish line.
Norris was up first with a personal best in S1 and a purple second sector. Piastri meanwhile improved in S1 and then Hamilton set the fastest first sector. When Norris crossed the line he improved but not enough to surpass Piastri. Hamilton seemed on track to take pole but had a poor final sector and stranded behind Russell. The home hero raised his hand as he passed the finish line, clearly disappointed by the lost of time he had in the final sector.
Verstappen was the sole driver left and put the timing board on fire with two purple sectors, enough to secure pole position.
