Lewis Hamilton beat Max Verstappen to pole in the inaugural qualifying session for the first sprint race at this weekend's British GP. This was a return to competitiveness for the defending world champion Mercedes team as Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas also came P3. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was again impressive after P4 in the Q3 of the inaugural sprint race.
Leclerc put in another performance that propelled the Ferrari SF21 to P4
Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez just managed P5 in the second Red Bull. The McLaren duo of Norris and Ricciardo managed P6 and P7 respectively. They were followed by the star of the qualifying session-- George Russell who in his slow Williams elevated it to P8 ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. This was yet another impressive performance by the Briton -- ratifying the hype which tips him to replace Bottas at Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel wrapped up the top ten with P10 in the Aston Martin.
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was the lead Alpine driver in P11. His teammate Esteban Ocon just managed P13. He was separated by Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri at P12. Gasly's teammate Tsunodo managed just P16. In front of him were Giovinazzi and Stroll in the Alpha Romeo and Aston Martin respectively.
Raikkonen managed just P17 for the sprint race in the second Alpha Romeo. He was followed by only Latifi in the second Williams and the Haas pair of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin in P19 and P20. The qualifying grid will sort the order for the sprint race on Saturday and then the final grid positions of the spirit race will race the starting grid for the main race on Sunday,
Aston Martin struggled in its first home race in over 50 years
Times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:26.134
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.172s
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +0.414s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.009s
5 Lando Norris McLaren +0.763s
6 Sergio Perez Red Bull +0.710s
7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +0.765s
8 George Russell Williams +0.837s
9 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.873s
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1.045s
11 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:27.245
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:27.273
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:27.340
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1:27.617
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:27.665
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:28.043
17 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1:28.062
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:28.254
19 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:28.738
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 1:29.051
