Verstappen notches fifth consecutive pole amidst tight competition at Silverstone; McLaren in the mix with stunning Norris P2, Piastri P3; luckless Perez out in Q1
On a thrilling day of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix at the venerable Silverstone Circuit, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overcame nine other highly competitive contenders to notch his fifth consecutive pole. In a tricky three-part quali session that started out wet and drizzly and evolved into a a dry and sunny affair by the end, Red Bull’s ace once again pulled out enough to win when it mattered to claim the top spot on the grid. Perhaps due to the track rubbering in after being washed Saturday morning or perhaps because the performance gap is tightening up, the biggest surprise of the day was who claimed P2 and P3 when the checkers flew in Q3. That would be a stunning effort by McLaren and its young studs, Englishman Lando Norris and Australian rookie Oscar Piastri, who gave Verstappen a real run for his money and outperformed Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin in the process. Norris will line up alongside Max on the front row and Piastri will back them up on row two in P3. The team were ebullient with the results and it seems like their recent upgrades to both cars really paid dividends in qualifying trim. It remains to be seen if McLaren can convert that newly discovered raw single lap pace into long haul race pace but the optimism is certainly running high at the team and amidst the rabid fanbase of this storied F1 marque.
McLaren’s success at Silverstone came at the expense of a trio of more highly regarded teams. First among those was Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc only able to set the fourth fatstest time of the session and Carlos Sainz slotting in at P5. Then it was Mercedes’ turn to be disappointed, as they saw George Russel come home P6 and Lewis Hamilton behind him in P7. It must have been particularly maddening for Hamilton at his home Grand Prix in a place where he has usually dominated in his career and after looking like he might be the one challenging Verstappen earlier in Q3. Aston Martin were also miffed after the ignominy of seeing Williams Alexander Albon better the vaunted Fernando Alonso, P8 to P9, as well as watching Lance Stroll get bounced out in Q2. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the Top 10 qualifiers.
With plenty of grouchiness to go around in an unsettled paddock, undoubtedly the most distraught driver on the day was Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez who, astonishingly, failed to make it out of Q1. Perez has now been unable to make it to Q3 in the last five race weekends, an astonishing statistic. To be fair he was hard done by today when an ill-timed Red Flag forced him to scramble to set a time but then had to wait with ever-cooling tires at the front of the pit lane until the track went green again. With the circuit damp but drying Perez set his fast lap too early as time ran out and was easily overtaken by succeeding cars and dropped into the bottom five cut line. Once again, the veteran Mexican will have to fight from way back in the field starting from P15 tomorrow after Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was DQ’d for lack of fuel. While he was able to recover for a podium last week in Austria from the exact same starting position, that is no way for a putative championship contender to line up on a weekly basis. Still, with Perez forced into aggression, the grid somewhat jumbled and some new truly fast cars added to the mix, it should make for an exciting day at the races.
Top 10 qualifiers for then British GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:29.428 | 1:27.702 | 1:26.720 | |
| 2 | 1:28.917 | 1:28.042 | 1:26.961 | |
| 3 | 1:29.874 | 1:27.845 | 1:27.092 | |
| 4 | 1:29.143 | 1:28.361 | 1:27.136 | |
| 5 | 1:29.865 | 1:28.265 | 1:27.148 | |
| 6 | 1:29.412 | 1:28.782 | 1:27.155 | |
| 7 | 1:29.415 | 1:28.545 | 1:27.211 | |
| 8 | 1:29.466 | 1:28.067 | 1:27.530 | |
| 9 | 1:29.949 | 1:28.368 | 1:27.659 | |
| 10 | 1:29.533 | 1:28.751 | 1:27.689 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 10AM Eastern here in the States. While Verstappen remains the overwhelming favorite to claim his sixth win on the trot, the performance gap seems to have tightened throughout the field. So, podium places are very much up for grabs, perhaps even the top step. Plus, wet weather is always a wild card in this part of England and can undo the best laid plans of even the most talented drivers. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!