Max Verstappen has clinched pole position at the British Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver storming through with a stunning lap to put himself at the front of the grid ahead of the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.<\/p>\n
While Piastri had secured provisional pole during the first runs of Q3, the Australian made a mistake on his final effort and could not improve. But Verstappen put his lap together perfectly to go fastest on an effort of 1m 24.892s, putting himself 0.103s clear of Piastri\u2019s McLaren.<\/p>\n
The other papaya car of Lando Norris will start from third, the Briton also unable to better his previous time on his last flying lap. George Russell followed for Mercedes in fourth, while Lewis Hamilton wound up in fifth, despite the Ferrari driver being Piastri\u2019s closest challenger in the first runs.<\/p>\n
Hamilton\u2019s team mate Charles Leclerc claimed sixth, with Mercedes\u2019 Kimi Antonelli taking seventh ahead of Ollie Bearman in eighth, though the Haas driver will start near the back of the field thanks to a 10-place grid penalty<\/a> for a red flag infringement in third practice.<\/p>\n Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin in ninth place, while Pierre Gasly was an impressive 10th at the wheel of the Alpine.<\/p>\n Williams had a disappointing day, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon both exiting Q2 in P11 and P14 respectively. It was also another tough outing for Yuki Tsunoda, who found himself down in P12 for Red Bull.<\/p>\n Racing Bulls\u2019 Isack Hadjar took 13th place, with the Haas of Esteban Ocon the final car to miss out on the top 10 shootout in 15th.<\/p>\n There was drama in Q1 when Alpine\u2019s Franco Colapinto spun off into the barriers at the final corner, bringing out the red flags and leaving the Argentinian driver down in P20.<\/p>\n Also eliminated in the first segment of Qualifying \u2013 which saw the whole field barring Colapinto covered by just six-tenths \u2013 were Racing Bulls\u2019 Liam Lawson in 16th, the Kick Sauber duo of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg in 17th and 19th respectively and Aston Martin\u2019s Lance Stroll between them in 18th.<\/p>\n AS IT HAPPENED After three busy practice sessions \u2013 each featuring a different driver at the top of the timesheets \u2013 it was time for Saturday\u2019s highly-anticipated Qualifying session. Russell clinched pole at home in 2024, but who would put themselves at the front of the grid this time around?<\/p>\n Bortoleto was the first to hit the track as the green light signalled the start of Q1, the Kick Sauber team having repaired the car in time following the Brazilian\u2019s spin into the gravel during FP3. Conditions looked to be dry, but Gasly hinted at a change as he radioed in to report \u201csome drizzle\u201d.<\/p>\n As the rest of the pack started to emerge \u2013 all sporting the C4 soft tyres \u2013 Piastri went fastest during the early runs, his lap of 1m 26.002s putting him 0.039s clear of Verstappen in second and Alonso in third.<\/p>\n There was drama with just over eight minutes remaining as Colapinto had a moment at the final corner and spun into the barriers, bringing out the yellow flags. The Alpine driver initially got going again before then pulling off the track again near the pit exit, resulting in a red flag being thrown to allow for the Argentine\u2019s car to be recovered.<\/p>\n When the session resumed with six minutes and 49 seconds remaining, the drivers at risk were Bortoleto, Ocon, Hulkenberg, the stricken Colapinto and Gasly, with Tsunoda on the bubble in 15th place \u2013 while leader Piastri stated that the drops of rain seemed \u201cworse than before\u201d.<\/p>\n Albon improved to climb up to third, while Verstappen and Piastri swapped fastest laps at the top of the timesheets. Elsewhere Hamilton and Leclerc looked to potentially be at risk in P11 and P13, with Hamilton told that he did not have enough fuel remaining for another lap.<\/p>\n Leclerc went on to move himself up to ninth, while Hamilton was pushed to 14th but stayed out of the elimination zone and Sainz climbed to eighth. Others were not so lucky, however; Lawson exited in 16th, a contrast from his sixth place on the grid last time out in Austria.<\/p>\n The Kick Saubers of Bortoleto and Hulkenberg exited in P17 and P19 respectively, with Stroll sandwiched between them in P18 while the aforementioned Colapinto ended the segment in P20 following his accident. Colapinto aside, the entire field was covered by just six-tenths in an incredibly close Q1.<\/p>\n Knocked out: Lawson, Bortoleto, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Colapinto<\/p>\n Q2 \u2013 Hamilton leads Leclerc, Williams face double exit<\/p>\n After an initially quiet start, Verstappen led the field out as Q2 got underway at Silverstone. The Dutchman soon went fastest on a 1m 25.316s \u2013 before Piastri incredibly set the exact same time, going into P2 given that he set his time after Verstappen.<\/p>\n More was to come though from Norris, who beat both drivers by 0.085s to go to the top, a welcome sight to the fans watching on in his grandstand. Further back, Hamilton, Antonelli, Leclerc, Gasly and Tsunoda were the names at risk in the bottom five, all of whom had sported used tyres on their first runs.<\/p>\n
\nQ1 \u2013 Verstappen fastest as Colapinto brings out red flags<\/p>\n