Lewis Hamilton took a stunning Sprint pole position for the Formula 1 British Grand Prix, beating Kimi Antonelli by the smallest of margins.
The crowds at Silverstone took their places for the first competitive session of the weekend, with hopes high for a British pole position after Lewis Hamilton finished fastest in the only practice session of the weekend.
Sprint pole position was the first order of the F1 British GP, with drivers eager to make an impression. Light winds added to the challenge; who would take the spoils looked to be a battle between Mercedes and Ferrari.
SQ1
At the green light for SQ1, drivers were unusually slow to take to the track, the queue at the end of the pit lane absent. Cadillac were the first to set a lap time, looking to improve following their disastrous weekend.
When the first runs were complete, Ferrari led the way, revealing that the pace set by Hamilton in the only practice session of the weekend proved genuine. This lasted a few moments as Hadjar moved fastest, before Hamilton jumped back up in the closing minutes.
In the bottom half of the order, the two Cadillacs were joined once again by the Aston Martins, and both Haas drivers. The Williams duo were also right on the cusp, with only a few minutes to go.
At the chequered flag, Oliver Bearman and Alex Albon battled hard to move clear, but it was the two Haas cars that joined Cadillac and Aston Martin at the back of the grid, reducing the home contingent by one.
Eliminated: Bearman, Ocon, Perez, Bottas, Alonso, Stroll
SQ2
The cars took to the circuit in a similar way to SQ1, slow but steady and spaced out. With time limited, drivers were quick to set in a banker lap. Lando Norris entered Q2 with a distinct disadvantage following losing part of his brake duct in SQ1.
At the end of the first runs, he lay a distant seventh, while Hamilton led the way from Antonelli. The Mercedes of George Russell needed to find substantial time to catch his teammate. Antonelli’s first run deficit to Hamilton was immediately explained by the revelation he had no deployment along the Hanger Straight.
The bottom half of the order chose to come out in the closing minutes, placing them all under extreme pressure. Liam Lawson rose to the challenge, jumping to fourth, while teammate Arvid Lindblad jumped to eighth.
Both Audi’s, Alpine’s and Williams cars remained outside the top ten with only a few seconds remaining. At the chequered flag none improved, which spared Norris’ blushes as he progressed to Q3 by the smallest of margins.
Eliminated: Gasly, Bortoleto, Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Sainz, Albon
SQ3
The track conditions necessitated just one run in SQ3 on the soft tyres. This gave McLaren a chance to change Norris’ rear ring, but securing any form of result looked to be a tall order as the clock counted down.
With just three minutes to go, the top ten in contention for Sprint pole position at the F1 British GP finally took to the circuit, once again opting not to queue. The final runs then began in earnest, Piastri setting the initial pace. Norris found pace to put his early woes to bed, before Antonelli took provisional pole.
But Hamilton dug deep to take provisional pole position by 0.011s, with Verstappen 0.321s away from the leading pair. The second Ferrari of Leclerc was fourth, Russell a distant fifth, the two McLarens sixth and seventh, with Isack Hadjar and the two Racing Bulls completing the top ten.
Top 10: Ham, Ant, Vers, Lec, Russ, Norris, Piastri, Hadjar, Lawson, Lindblad
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