Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton achieved pole position at his home race, Silverstone, fending off his Mercedes successor Kimi Antonelli.
In a single-lap shoot-out on the soft compound, Antonelli set the provisionally quickest time, only for Hamilton to go faster by a tiny margin of 0.011 seconds to take his first sprint pole since last year’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s one minute, 28.376 seconds lap was a full three tenths quicker than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with the four-time champion narrowly beating Charles Leclerc to fourth.
Austrian Grand Prix winner George Russell suffered a difficult SQ3 segment, losing two tenths through Silverstone’s first sector on his way to fifth on the grid.
As expected before the British Grand Prix weekend, McLaren struggled for performance compared to Mercedes and Ferrari, with a less aerodynamically efficient car. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took sixth and seventh respectively.
Isack Hadjar was ninth, while Racing Bulls continued its impressive form by making it into SQ3 with both cars as Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten.
Hamilton led the first series of laps from Antonelli in SQ2, which was run on Pirelli’s medium tyres. Last year’s British Grand Prix winner Norris survived a scare when he only just managed to go through in P10.
There was some improvement at Alpine after a tough weekend at the Red Bull Ring, but Pierre Gasly was still knocked out in P11, followed by Audi duo Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg. Franco Colapinto was P14, ahead of the Williams cars of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.
In SQ1, none of the heavy hitters were under significant pressure, although Lando’s effort only left him P10 as Lewis led Charles – foreshadowing what would be a tricky session for the world champion.
At the back of the grid, Williams survived the segment with both cars, as Sainz held off a disappointed Oliver Bearman by 0.010 seconds for the P16 and final position. Both Haas cars were eliminated with Esteban Ocon in P19, followed by both drivers from Cadillac and Aston Martin.
So the home crowd favourite will start the British Grand Prix sprint race in pole position. There’s only 17 laps in the sprint and if Lewis Hamilton can resist the pressure from Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen, then it will be popular result.
British Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:28.376
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:28.387
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:28.697
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.703
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:28.733
6 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.740
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.772
8 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:28.835
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:28.927
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:29.367
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:29.482
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:29.679
13 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:29.707
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:29.983
15 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:30.197
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:30.650
17 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:31.083
18 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:31.714
19 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:31.776
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:32.020
21 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:32.910
22 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:32.988
Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position in Sprint Qualifying ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver snatching top spot on home soil by just 0.011s from Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
Hamilton had set the pace in Sprint Qualifying at Silverstone throughout Friday afternoon, having gone fastest in Free Practice before leading the way in both earlier segments prior to a one-lap shootout in SQ3.
The seven-time World Champion posted a 1m 28.376s lap, leaving him just fractionally quicker than Antonelli, as the pair headed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
George Russell was P5 and only just ahead of McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the Mercedes driver having struggled throughout Sprint Qualifying for pace.
The top-10 ahead of Saturday’s Sprint was completed by Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly missed out on advancing to the final stage of Sprint Qualifying by less than one-tenth, as he headed the Audi pair of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg.
The second Alpine of Franco Colapinto was P14, ahead of the Williams duo of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, the latter 1.9s slower than Hamilton’s best in SQ2.
In the opening 12-minute segment, Haas driver Ollie Bearman failed to advance by just 0.010s against Albon, with team mate Esteban Ocon a further six tenths behind in P18.
The order was completed by the two Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, and the two Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, the latter pair more than 3.6 seconds off the pace.
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Lewis Hamilton has admitted that racing at his home circuit still feels like “a dream”, after the Ferrari driver secured pole position for the Silverstone Sprint by narrowly beating Kimi Antonelli.
The Briton had already showcased his strong pace, having topped the times in the weekend’s sole practice session, and he continued to be in the mix throughout Sprint Qualifying.
In spite of Antonelli’s consistently rapid laps, Hamilton topped every segment of the session and resisted the pressure of the one-lap shootout in SQ3 to post a time of 1m 28.376s, just 0.011s clear of the Italian’s final effort.
Reflecting on his feelings soon after, he said: “I love this place, I love this crowd, and I can’t express to you how big a dream it is, still to this day, when you’re building up to this race and you think about every corner and kind of the flow that you can get into at this track if you get the set-up right and if you’ve got the right team behind you.
“The car’s felt really great today, thanks to everyone back at the factory, just continuing to push. We brought tiny little bits here – every single weekend we’re showing up with something, and everyone’s pushed to the max, so I’m really grateful to get that pole.
“I was quick through all the session, but still it was only 10 milliseconds or something like that, so it’s very close to these guys and the team really deserves it. A big, big thank you to everyone here.”
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Max Verstappen believes that his P3 result in Sprint Qualifying at the British Grand Prix “could easily have been P6 or P7” given the fine margins at play, with the Dutchman conceding that Red Bull still have “a few things to figure out”.
Having ended the weekend’s sole practice hour in P6 earlier on Friday – nearly one second off the pace of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton at the top – Verstappen looked to have closed the gap slightly in Sprint Qualifying later on, ending the session as the closest driver to Hamilton and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli albeit with a deficit of just over three tenths.
Asked afterwards if he was happy to have made the top three – given where he had looked to be in FP1 – Verstappen answered: “I think so, yeah. I mean, for us, the outcome of SQ3 was very close.
“It could easily have been P3 or whatever, P6 or P7. But we were on the good side, so we were a bit closer.
“I think we’re still not where we want to be – cornering, maybe a tiny bit, but also deployment and stuff, so a few things to figure out to try and find more lap time. But yeah, we’ll try to do that, of course, after the Sprint.”
Quizzed on whether the RB22 felt much better during Sprint Qualifying, the four-time World Champion said: “A little bit better, yeah. Still not where I want it to be. I guess it’s also just a combination of how the layout is now with some limitations on the straight, and just getting the balance in the right window.”
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George Russell has conceded that he needs to understand his “strange” lack of pace during Sprint Qualifying at the British Grand Prix, with the Mercedes driver also left “very surprised” by the performance of Ferrari during the session.
Russell had not looked quite as comfortable at the wheel of the W17 as Kimi Antonelli in Friday’s sole practice hour earlier on, setting a time some four tenths off his team mate’s effort – but it was Lewis Hamilton who ultimately went quickest ahead of the Italian.
This again proved to be the case in Sprint Qualifying, with Hamilton beating Antonelli to pole while the other Scuderia car of Charles Leclerc claimed fourth place. Max Verstappen took third in the Red Bull, while Russell had to settle for P5 – his time again just under four tenths away from Hamilton’s.
Speaking after the session, Russell said of his day on track at Silverstone: “It’s kind of the story of the year, to be honest – always on the back foot.
“Usually come Q3 I can generally make a step, but today was not quite the case. It was very close to P3 but it’s still very much off the pace of Lewis and Kimi, so I need to try and understand why that is. It’s a bit strange.”
Pushed on whether he had felt from the start of Friday’s running that the car was not quite where he wanted it to be, the Briton answered: “I think it’s feeling quite good out there, to be honest. It’s not feeling too bad.
“I think we were all expecting it to feel a bit worse, just in terms of driving these cars here, but it actually felt quite okay and the high-speed felt fast. But as I said, relative lap time is just not really there, so we need to understand tomorrow for the more important day.”
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Kimi Antonelli believes “Ferrari have done an incredible step forward”, as the Mercedes driver just missed out on pole position in Sprint Qualifying to Lewis Hamilton ahead of the British Grand Prix.
The Italian teenager, who leads the Drivers’ standings by 40 points from Mercedes team mate George Russell, missed out on top spot on Friday by just 0.011s.
Hamilton had set the pace throughout Friday, going quickest in the single one-hour Free Practice session, before going fastest in all three segments of Sprint Qualifying.
It continues a strong run of form for the seven-time World Champion, which includes a win in Barcelona and a further three podiums, with Antonelli wary of the threat Hamilton poses in Saturday’s 17-lap Sprint.
“Ferrari have done an incredible step forward, so definitely is going to be very tough. Plus Lewis is in great form,” said Antonelli, who leads Hamilton by 46 points in the title race.
“But that’s good, we like the challenge and we try to make the best out of it. Of course, we’ll go for it and try to do our best. It’s not going to be easy but everything is on the table to do well so we’ll make sure that we do well.”
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