British GP: Verstappen pips Norris to pole in dramatic qualifying

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has secured his fifth consecutive pole position as McLaren join the defending world champions on the front row ahead of the British Grand Prix. 

Q1

Due to the earlier downpour, which impacted Free Practice 3 and Formula 2’s sprint race, a queue had already formed at the head of the pit lane exit. The queue was headed by the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton respectively. 

When the pit lane traffic light went green, there was a mix of compounds out on the Silverstone circuit with the majority of the drivers out in the softs and a handful on the intermediates. As the track continued to dry out, all of the intermediate drivers peeled into the pit lane to swap over to the slick tyres. 

While track conditions improved, after an early spin from Hamilton at Stowe, the field embarked on continuous runs around the British circuit. 

However, the session was soon red-flagged with three minutes left on the clock as Kevin Magnussen’s Haas lost power on the run through Stowe corner. During the stoppage, Verstappen was out on top ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who lined up in second and third. 

The session quickly resumed after the marshals extracted Magnussen’s Haas of which Perez, in dire need of a good lap, was the first driver back out on track after a patient wait at the end of the pit lane. 

Perez fell into the elimination zone as drivers put in better laps but as Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas stopped out on track the Mexican was not able to improve his lap and exited early. 

Eliminated: 

20. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

19. Nyck De Vries, Alpha Tauri

18. Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo

17. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri

16. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

Q2 

After a slight delay as the Marshals removed Bottas’ Alfa Romeo from the circuit, the session quickly resumed. Light rain was predicted to be on its way by some teams while others deemed that there will be no more rain imminent. 

In the first banker laps were quickly set as Norris sent the British crowd wild with the fastest lap early on in the session, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Verstappen. It wasn’t long before Williams’ Alexander Albon showcased their impressive pace as the British-Thai driver went third fastest.  

While more drivers set better lap times, Verstappen found himself down in seventh place but it wasn’t long before he jumped to his usual position; first place, ahead of the McLaren duo. 

Eliminated:

15. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

14. Logan Sargeant, Williams

13. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

12. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

11. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

Q3

Unlike the previous two third of the qualifying session, not a lot of drivers were eager to get out on track. Only a handful peeled out onto the Silverstone circuit. 

It wasn’t long before Verstappen returned to his usual position of first, and provisional pole position, six-tenths ahead of Hamilton and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who occupied a provisional second and third place start. 

In the final runs, no one was able to threaten Verstappen for the top spot. Piastri was able to improve his position closer to the defending world champion but it was his teammate, Norris, who toppled Verstappen from pole position. 

However, as the British crowd reeled back from their euphoria, Verstappen returned to the top with a lap, one-quarter of a second quicker than the British McLaren driver.

Further down the field Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished fourth and fifth, while the Mercedes drivers paired together in sixth and seventh with Russell and Hamilton respectively.

Top 10: 

10. Pierre Gasly, Alpine

9. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

8. Alexander Albon, Williams

7. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

6. George Russell, Mercedes

5. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

3. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

2. Lando Norris, McLaren

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

That’s all for the live blog; British GP: Verstappen pips Norris to pole in dramatic qualifying!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• LIVE: BRITISH GP – QUALIFYING
• British GP: Verstappen top in FP2 as Albon goes third fastest again
• LIVE: BRITISH GP – FP2
• British GP: Verstappen leads Perez and Albon in first practice
• LIVE: BRITISH GRAND PRIX – FP1
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