Less than a week after his first win of the season, George Russell brought positive momentum into Silverstone Circuit to snag pole position for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
Russell led an all-British top three with teammate Lewis Hamilton qualifying second and McLaren’s Lando Norris locking down third. Russell cleared Hamilton at the end of Q3 by 0.171 seconds.
“What a feeling, what a feeling!” Russell said. “At the start of this year we couldn’t have even dreamt of being on pole here, and a one-two for Lewis and I, Lando in P3… It’s just mega. It’s down to all these fans as well, they give us so much energy, so thank you so much for that.”
F-1 points leader Max Verstappen settled for fourth place on the grid after going off course earlier in the session.
“A mixed Saturday. It was unlucky timing when I came out of turn seven and it started to rain, I tried to slow down in to that corner but the car still snapped on me and I was focused on keeping it out of the wall,” Verstappen said. “Going in the gravel ripped up my floor and we had pretty significant damage from there on out.
“The team did a great job trying to recover some of the bits and optimize the balance from front to rear, but it majorly affected our qualifying. I was lucky to be in Q3 after that, and in the end to qualify in P4 was a bit of a positive surprise and the best we could do today.”
Oscar Piastri locked down fifth position for McLaren while Haas F-1’s Nico Hulkenberg thrilled with an impressive sixth-place showing for the American team.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz starts seventh ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in eighth and Fernando Alonso in 10th. Williams’ Alex Albon qualified in between Aston Martin’s duo in ninth.
Monaco Grand Prix winner Charles Leclerc struggled on Saturday as he failed to reach Q3. He’ll start 11th on the grid for Sunday’s race.
Despite a trying season, American driver Logan Sargeant enjoyed his best qualifying effort of the season as he’ll start 12th.
Haas F-1’s Kevin Magnussen endured trouble in Q2 as he went off course, placing him in 17th.