Cloudy. Dry. Air +21…23С, rail +22…24С
Almost everyone has prepared new items for the British Grand Prix, having started testing in Austria last week. Qualifying at Silverstone made it possible to assess the changes in the balance of power.
On Friday, the season leader Max Verstappen showed the fastest time, Saturday morning Charles Leclerc was the fastest – it started to rain halfway through this session, which continued during the Formula 2 race, where the drivers started the movement behind the safety car, but then sank.
In the first session the riders hit the drying asphalt – Leclerc, Sainz, Sargent, Magnussen and Hulkenberg played it safe and started on intermediate tyres, the rest immediately put on slicks.
The track was completely dry, and there were few wet stretches beyond that, but in the fifth minute Hamilton turned in the wet stretch and flew into the gravel with no harm to the car.
Almost immediately everyone switched to slicks, and at the same time it started to rain – moderately, allowing the riders to attack. Then the session was stopped with red flags – in the 16th minute Kevin Magnussen’s car froze between corners 15 and 16 due to an unexpected loss of power from the power plant.
The racers returned to the pits and after the evacuation of Kevin’s car, they took off again. The break lasted 10 minutes.
Verstappen hit the other side of the pit lane when leaving the pits, the mechanics had to replace the damaged front wing.
At the restart everyone went on slicks. The battle continued until the final minutes, until Bottas’ car stopped at the side of the road and recorded the result.
Lando Norris set the fastest time with a lap time of 1:28.917. The following fight dropped: Perez (again), Tsunoda, Zhou, de Vries and Magnussen.
In the second session everything went to Soft. Norris showed the best time on the first attempt, completing a lap in 1:29.427 – the first ten paces in eight tenths.
As a result, Verstappen showed the best time, with a lap time of 1:27.720. Not qualified for the final: Hulkenberg, Stroll, Ocon, Sargent and Bottas.
In the final Verstappen was again faster than anyone else and completed the lap in 1:26.720.
Max Verstappen won qualifying at Silverstone on his 27th career pole and seventh of the season, but McLaren drivers took second and third to the delight of the stands.
Qualifying results
| Pilot | Team | 1 session | 2 session | 3 session | ||||||
| m | Time | kr | m | Time | kr | m | Time | kr | ||
| 1. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 5 | 1:29,428 | eleven | 1 | 1:27,702 | 9 | 1 | 1:26,720 | 6 |
| 2. L. Norris | McLaren | 1 | 1:28,917 | eleven | 3 | 1:28.042 | 9 | 2 | 1:26,961 | 6 |
| 3. O. Piastri | McLaren | 14 | 1:29,874 | eleven | 2 | 1:27,845 | 9 | 3 | 1:27.092 | 6 |
| 4. Sch. Leclerc | Ferrari | 2 | 1:29,143 | eleven | 6 | 1:28,361 | 8 | 4 | 1:27.136 | 6 |
| 5. K. Sainz | Ferrari | 12 | 1:29,865 | 12 | 5 | 1:28.265 | 8 | 5 | 1:27,148 | 6 |
| 6.D Russell | Mercedes | 3 | 1:29,412 | 10 | 10 | 1:28,782 | 8 | 6 | 1:27.155 | 6 |
| 7. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 4 | 1:29,415 | eleven | 8 | 1:28,545 | 8 | 7 | 1:27.211 | 6 |
| 8. A. Albon | Willems | 7 | 1:29,466 | eleven | 4 | 1:28.067 | 8 | 8 | 1:27,530 | 6 |
| 9. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | 15 | 1:29,949 | 10 | 7 | 1:28,368 | 8 | 9 | 1:27,659 | 6 |
| 10.P Gasly | Alps | 8 | 1:29,533 | eleven | 9 | 1:28,751 | 7 | 10 | 1:27,689 | 6 |
| 11. N. Hulkenberg | hare | 9 | 1:29,603 | eleven | eleven | 1:28,896 | 6 | |||
| 12. L. Walk | Aston Martin | 6 | 1:29,448 | eleven | 12 | 1:28,935 | 8 | |||
| 13. E. Okon | Alps | 10 | 1:29,700 | eleven | 13 | 1:28,956 | 7 | |||
| 14. L. Sargent | Willems | 13 | 1:29,873 | eleven | 14 | 1:29.031 | 8 | |||
| DQVBotas* | Alfa Romeo | eleven | 1:29,798 | eleven | 15 | – | 0 | |||
| 15. C. Perez | Red Bull | 16 | 1:29,968 | eleven | ||||||
| 16. Y. Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 17 | 1:30.025 | eleven | ||||||
| 17. G Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 18 | 1:30.123 | eleven | ||||||
| 18.N. deVries | AlphaTauri | 19 | 1:30,513 | eleven | ||||||
| 19. K. Magnussen | hare | 20 | 1:32,378 | 7 | ||||||
* Valtteri Bottas suspended for insufficient fuel
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
