Lewis Hamilton took pole position on Friday for the very first Formula 1 sprint event at Silverstone, ahead of Sunday’s British Grand Prix – the tenth round of the F1 World Championship in 2021.
Mercedes driver Hamilton will start the sprint qualifying race ahead of Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) after the one-hour qualifying, which is divided into three segments and Q1 and Q2 before the top 10 shootout of Q3.
The result of the sprint race, which takes place on Saturday, forms the starting grid for the main event on Sunday. The winner of the sprint will be awarded the pole position award of the Grand Prix.
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Qualifying results for the British Grand Prix: Hamilton on Verstappen sprint pole
What happened in Q1?
McLaren’s Lando Norris set the initial benchmark at 1: 28.277 minutes, slightly overshadowed by Bottas with 1: 27.487 minutes and then by Hamilton with 1: 27.160 seconds. Verstappen then showed everyone the way with 1.26.751 minutes despite a huge slide at Club, which was 0.409 seconds faster than Hamilton.
Hamilton moved up to second with a lap of 1.26.786 minutes, within 0.035 seconds of P1, thanks to a second run in the final seconds that put him ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari). Norris and Bottas fell back to eighth and ninth place respectively.
Yuki Tsunoda from AlphaTauri, Kimi Räikkönen from Alfa Romeo, Nicholas Latifi from Williams and the Haas duo Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin fell at the first hurdle.
British Grand Prix Q1 results: Verstappen fastest of Hamilton
What happened in Q2?
In Q2 there was no tire decision regarding the run of the media for an advantage in race strategy as the sprint race choice is free. Hamilton set the bar at 1: 26.602 seconds, 0.164 seconds faster than Bottas. Verstappen took P1 with 1: 26.504 minutes, just 0.098 seconds faster than Hamilton at this point in time.
In the last few runs, Hamilton finished P1 with 1: 26.023 minutes and while Verstappen improved his time to 1: 26.315 seconds, that was 0.292 seconds behind Hamilton. Bottas was third in front of Sainz, Leclerc, Perez and George Russell (Williams).
At this point Fernando Alonso (Alpine – by just 0.025 seconds), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) were eliminated.
British Grand Prix Q2 results: Hamilton fastest by Verstappen
What happened in the third quarter?
In the top 10 shootout, Bottas set the benchmark with 1: 26.548 minutes, which were immediately beaten by Hamilton with 1: 26.134 minutes and Verstappen with 1: 26.306 seconds – Lewis being 0.172 seconds faster than his title rival, who complained of understeer .
On the final runs, Hamilton set his fastest time to Vale when he suffered a huge slide and lost his last chance. Verstappen improved to 1: 26.209 minutes, but that wasn’t enough to wrestle the fastest time of 0.075 seconds.
Bottas improved with a lap of 1: 26.328 minutes and stayed third, while Perez set the fourth fastest time, which was canceled because the track barriers were exceeded. So he fell back to fifth place behind Leclerc. Norris starts the sprint from sixth place in front of Ricciardo, Russell, Sainz and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin).
