Verstappen takes Silverstone pole as McLaren takes 2-3

World champion Max Verstappen continue his impressive qualifying run by taking pole position for the British Grand Prix, snatching the fastest lap as McLaren took second and third on the grid.

Verstappen drew first blood in Q3, the only driver among the ten to set their first lap on fresh soft tyres having saved a set earlier on in qualifying, with a time of one minute, 27.084 seconds.

This was over 0.6 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton’s next-best time, one minute, 27.717 seconds, as the Mercedes driver beat a rapid Oscar Piastri after the opening series of laps.

But Verstappen’s pole time seemed up for grabs and, although Charles Leclerc looked mighty in the opening sector of his attempt, he was unable to maintain enough momentum to leapfrog the double champion with his time.

Carlos Sainz was also unable to make the difference and folded in behind Leclerc, while George Russell and Lewis Hamilton could not make any further progress and settled in behind the Ferraris.

And yet it was Lando Norris, who sent the British fans into raptures having reeled across the line with one minute, 26.961 seconds, moving up into provisional pole, but his chance of a first P1 at home was denied by Verstappen’s final flying lap.

Despite this, Norris booked a place on the front row with a much-improved McLaren, and his teammate Piastri added to the team’s joy with third after moving past Leclerc’s lap.

Leclerc thus qualified fourth ahead of Sainz, while Russell outqualifed Hamilton to take sixth on Sunday’s grid.

Alex Albon worked his way into Q3 as Williams showed greatly improved form during its 799th Grand Prix weekend, and collected eighth. Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly completed the top ten.

Although weather worries permeated the field during the opening part of Q2, Silverstone remained dry for the second part of qualifying to ensure that the track kept improving throughout.

This set up a last-lap dash to the line to break into the top ten and earn progression into the final part of qualifying, which became closely contested among the regular midfield runners.

Logan Sargeant, having lost two laps through track limits violations, had managed to get up to ninth, but was subsequently displaced into P10 and sat on the bubble as those in the drop zone tried to break out.

Esteban Ocon moved up to P10 to knock Sargeant out but was displaced by Lance Stroll – whom the Alpine driver had an out-lap and was held up on the exit of Stowe.

Stroll himself was succeeded by Nico Hulkenberg before Gasly displaced the Haas driver out of the top ten to take his place into the final part of qualifying.

Valtteri Bottas was also eliminated from Q2, having come to a halt at the end of Q1 at the exit of Luffield.

The earlier rain that had affected practice and the Formula 2 race had stopped in time for Q1, although wet patches of tarmac ensured that a quarter of the cars began practice on the intermediate tyre – including the two Ferraris.

But the circuit was sufficiently dry enough for them to pit for soft tyres, although pockets of damp track precipitated a Lewis Hamilton spin at Stowe, where he was able to recover his car out of the gravel and continue with his session.

The circuit began to improve although the resumption of rain looked imminent, prompting the drivers to hurriedly collect lap times on the softs lest any further rain interrupt the final vestiges of the session.

Despite their latent pace in qualifying, both Williams drivers sat in the elimination zone with just over three minutes to go, after Albon’s best run was deleted for a track limits violation.

To compound the team’s misery, Kevin Magnussen came to a stop at Vale as his Haas gave up the ghost on the exit of Stowe, producing a red flag in response to wheel the car away. This committed him to a Q1 exit.

Four positions were thus left up for grabs as the session restarted for a final set of laps, and the circuit had dried slightly more during the intermission prompting a 19-car shootout to make it through into Q2.

The timing tower thus resembled a slot machine with positions shuffling around with each lap, and the session came to rest with Sergio Perez becoming the biggest scalp from the opening part of qualifying.

Alonso ended the session on the cusp of the bottom five but managed to progress while Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu, and Nyck de Vries joined Perez and Magnussen in the elimination zone.

So in the end of this exciting qualifying, the Red Bull came out on top. Congratulations to Max Verstappen with pole position and yet it was McLaren who got the biggest cheer from the British Grand Prix crowd. P2 and P3 for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri is a fine achievement. It’s going to be fascinating if McLaren has the race pace to stay in front of Ferraris and Mercedes come Sunday’s main event.

British Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:26.720
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:26.961
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:27.092
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27.136
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:27.148
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:27.155
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.211
8 Alex Albon Williams 1:27.530
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:27.659
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:27.689
11 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:28.896
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:28.935
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:28.956
14 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:29.031
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo No time
16 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:29.968
17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:30.025
18 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:30.123
19 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:30.513
20 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:32.378