SILVERSTONE, England — Max Verstappen won the pole for Sunday’s British Grand Prix during qualifying Saturday at the Silverstone Circuit.
The Red Bull driver turned in a stunning lap late in the third qualifying session to steal the top spot from point leader Oscar Piastri, who had held the provisional pole aboard his McLaren ride.
Verstappen’s lap of one minute and 24.892 seconds put him .103 seconds ahead of Piastri and marked a banner day for Red Bull.
Verstappen said the conditions were challenging.
“It was tricky out there with the wind,” he said. “Throughout the whole of qualifying it was shifting around a bit, and around here with these cars they are extremely sensitive to it.
“[I] just tried to tidy it up throughout qualifying and that final lap was good enough.
“This is a proper track in qualifying, where you have to go flat-out on all these corners, you have to be really committed and that’s really enjoyable.”
Piastri and his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, ended up second and third, respectively.
George Russell followed for Mercedes in fourth, while Lewis Hamilton wound up in fifth, despite the Ferrari driver being Piastri’s closest challenger in the first runs of the day.
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc claimed sixth, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli taking seventh ahead of Ollie Bearman in eighth, though the Haas driver will start near the back of the field thanks to a 10-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement in third practice.
Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin in ninth place, while Pierre Gasly was an impressive 10th at the wheel of the Alpine.
