Lewis Hamilton wowed his home crowd at Silverstone in Sprint qualifying by leading all three sessions to top the grid for the first of the weekend’s Formula 1 races. The seven-time World Champion is aiming to claim a record 10th British Grand Prix win and consolidate his title challenge.
SQ1
Hamilton built on his practice pace to head the frantic 12-minute opening session, with Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc second, Isack Hadjar third, Oscar Piastri fourth and George Russell fifth; just over four tenths separating them.
A late lap from Williams’ Alex Albon pushed Oliver Bearman out of the running, followed by his Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon, then the Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, with the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll qualifying on the back row of the Sprint grid.
SQ2
Another session-leading lap from Hamilton, this time from title leader Kimi Antonelli, team-mate Leclerc, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri set the scene for SQ3 as the gap between the top five closed to 0.373 seconds.
Meanwhile, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg, the second Alpine of Franco Colapinto and the two Williams of Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon were eliminated from the final session.
SQ3
Over half the final session ticked away before the cars left the pitlane to set the top ten order for the Sprint race over a single flying lap, which only added to the tension. Piastri topped the times at first, followed by Antonelli but Hamilton timed it perfectly to head the grid for the Sprint race. Behind Antonelli, Max Verstappen will line up third ahead of Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Piastri, Hadjar, Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.
After celebrating first place in Sprint qualifying Lewis said: “I love this place. I love this crowd. Thanks to everyone back at the factory and every single weekend, we’re showing up with something, just everyone’s pushed to the max and I’m really grateful to get that pole. I was quick through all the session, but still so very close to these guys and our team really deserves it. We didn’t expect coming to Silverstone that we would be competing for the front row, we really didn’t, so, this is an amazing surprise.”
Formula 1 Sprint qualifying
1, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:28.376s
2, Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, +0.011s
3, Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +0.321s
4, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +0.327s
5, George Russell, Mercedes, +0.357s
6, Lando Norris, McLaren, +0.364s
7, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +0.396s
8, Isack Hadjar, Red Bull, +0.459s
9, Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, +0.551s
10, Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls, +0.991s
11, Pierre Gasly, Alpine, SQ2
12, Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi, SQ2
13, Nico Hulkenberg, Audi, SQ2
14, Franco Colapinto, Alpine, SQ2
15, Carlos Sainz, Williams, SQ2
16, Alex Albon, Williams, SQ2
17, Oliver Bearman, Haas, SQ3
18, Esteban Ocon, Haas, SQ3
19, Sergio Pérez, Cadillac, SQ3
20, Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, SQ3
21, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, SQ3
22, Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, SQ3
Elsewhere Freddie Slater took pole position in F3 qualifying, to give the British fans additional cheer. Slater, who is currently second in the title standings took his maiden category pole by a quarter of a second in the session.