Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was fastest in F1 British GP qualifying from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Valtteri Bottas in third.
Q1:
With just the FP1 done, the qualifying was on for F1 British GP in the new format, as the first part saw everyone blasting on lap times on the sets of soft. It was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (1m26.751s) on top from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m26.786s).
He was only 0.035s behind Verstappen but did an extra run, where the Dutchman was the only one to do just the one run and use just the one set. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third after the Monegasque recovered from a final corner moment early in the session.
It was close fight towards the end with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m28.043s) missing out in 15th from Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m028.062s), Williams’ Nicholas Latifi (1m28.254s) and the Haas pair of Mick Schumacher (1m28.738s) and Nikita Mazepin (1m29.051s).
Q2:
The second part of F1 British GP had Mercedes’ Hamilton (1m26.023s) on top after tow from teammate Valtteri Bottas, with the Brit setting a 1m26.023s, which was 0.0292s quicker than Verstappen’s (1m26.315s) time, while the Finn (1m26.764s) was third.
It was a gamble by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel to not venture out the second time, while they were fourth and fifth. They eventually ended up sixth and eighth, where they were saved by both Alpine not making it in, but Williams’ George Russell made it in after a solid lap to be seventh.
Fernando Alonso (1m27.245s) was 11th, missing out by 0.025s, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1m27.273s) in 12th from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m27.340s), Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m27.617s) and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m27.665s).
Q3:
The final part of F1 British GP qualifying saw Mercedes’ Hamilton take provisional pole with a 1m26.134s, which was 0.172s quicker than Verstappen (1m26.306s), with Bottas (1m26.548s) in third from Perez and Norris in the Top 5.
In fact, the two McLarens were separated by 0.002s, with Daniel Ricciardo in sixth. The second run saw Hamilton improving in the first two sectors, but he lost all of it in the final one when he got a twitchy moment, allowing Verstappen to pounce.
But the Dutchman’s (1m26.209s) middle sector was no improvement, which left him 0.075s behind Hamilton, who took the first-ever ‘Pirelli Speed King Award’ by ending up fastest in Friday qualifying in F1 British GP, as Bottas (1m26.328s) rounded out the Top 3.
Ferrari’s Leclerc (1m26.828s) ended up fourth after a lap deletion for Red Bull’s Perez (1m26.844s), who was fifth, from McLaren duo of Norris (1m26.879s) and Daniel Ricciardo (1m26.899s), as Williams’ Russell (1m26.971s) ended up eighth.
He managed to beat Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (1m27.007s) and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel (1m27.179s), whose initial quick lap was deleted due to track limits.
What a performance from @LewisHamilton 💪#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/FdMS3u0O46
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 16, 2021