Max Verstappen denies Brits at Silverstone as Lewis Hamilton misses out on pole.
McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were the clear front-runners for pole position, but practice sessions suggested that Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, along with Max Verstappen, could also be serious contenders.
All the hype was around Lewis Hamilton after strong performances in qualifying, but both he and Lando Norris were denied pole position for the British Grand Prix. And neither will start Sunday’s race on the front row with Oscar Piastri and pole-sitter Max Verstappen denying them.
Piastri was leading at the start of the final runs but could not improve his time, while Norris could manage to go only behind his McLaren team-mate. And it looked for all the world as if both of them would be usurped by Hamilton who was on a strong final effort.
But he lost time in the final sector and will have to settle for fifth on the grid, with Ferrari’s performance fluctuating throughout qualifying. They narrowly escaped a Q1 exit, then went quickest in the second part only to meander to fifth and Charles Leclerc in sixth at the end.
But where Hamilton fell short, Verstappen did not. He banished memories of his wretched Austrian Grand Prix a week ago to blow everyone away, despite having complained about his car throughout the session.
Franco Colapinto, still pointless since his mid-season elevation to a race seat at Alpine, did himself no favours with a spin at the final corner which saw Q1 red flagged. He had managed to return to the track after light contact with the barriers but had to pull over at the outside of Farm curve, informing his team he had lost his gearbox.
That left him tock bottom of the standings with Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson. Hamilton looked to be on the cusp of an early exit after being left unable to go out on a final run because his Ferrari was not fuelled, but he narrowly survived in 14th place.
And Q2 was much more comfortable for the Ferraris who, on their final runs went out first and each put in laps good enough to move to the top of the times, first Leclerc and then Hamilton. But there was less good news for Williams who saw both their cars drop out at the middle stage.
Yuki Tsunoda, Isack Hadjar, and Esteban Ocon also missed out on a spot in the top 10. It was especially unfortunate for Oliver Bearman—he’d been on fire throughout qualifying, but a 10-place grid penalty for crashing under red flags in final practice earlier in the day put a damper on things.
He finished eighth in the final session, which would’ve been an impressive result. Instead, he’ll be starting 18th on Sunday. That bump gives a slight boost to Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly, who were the only ones slower than Bearman in Q3.
Even with the roaring support of the home crowd for the British drivers, no one could stop Max Verstappen. Red Bull had looked out of sorts in earlier qualifying runs, but they were confident everything would come together when it mattered—and they were absolutely right.
