Carlos Sainz has beaten Max Verstappen in changeable conditions to secure his maiden pole position for the British Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver took advantage of the wet conditions to set a 40.983 going seven hundredths faster as conditions started to change in the closing moments of Q3.
Sainz who valiantly fought with Verstappen in Montreal looked to be on track at the right time to take pole, while his teammate Charles Leclerc was three tenths off in third admitting he didn’t get his final lap together leaving him three tenths off. It was looking extremely close with Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes having been covered by around a second.
It was another strong performance by Sainz and sets him up for another battle with Verstappen, following on from the intense closing stages at the last race in Montreal, where the world champion managed to hold off the Spaniard to take victory.
On his final attempt, Verstappen made a mistake at Vale causing him to spin on the kerb after looking to be a threat for pole, but in changeable conditions, it can be easy to be caught out. Misjudging his breaking he ran deep at Vale on his final run, earlier in Q3 he had also spun at Stowe.
Leclerc looked also to challenge for pole but his fastest two sectors were wiped out when he spun at Chapel as he entered the third sector, that left him three-tenths off the pace in third. The top two in the championship made mistakes ultimately opening the door for Sainz to take pole.
Sainz said, “I was struggling with the standing water and it was easy to lose the car and lose the lap. That didn’t feel too good but in the end, it was pole position and a bit of a surprise.”
Verstappen added, “Overall the car was working really well. In Q3, it is always a bit of lottery. I got a bit hindered on my final lap with the yellow flag but to be on the front row is good for us, and we have a good race car in the dry and in the wet.”
Leclerc goes into the race knowing he needs to revive his championship hopes having seen his forty-nine-point lead turn into a deficit having lost out in Monaco and Baku.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was fourth going nearly four-tenths faster than Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes looked to be in the hunt until Q3 but couldn’t find enough to challenge for pole position but looked to lack that little bit to challenge for pole position finishing three-hundredths ahead of Lando Norris.
Hamilton appeared to misjudge the timing of the rain and backed off rather than doing a double push lap, while teammate George Russell admitted he made a mistake on his final lap, believing he could have challenged for fourth or fifth. A dent in confidence for the team who said overnight they could have challenged for the front row.
Red Bull and Ferrari being able to consistently improve, but Mercedes unable to find the same improvements in the closing part of Q3. But Hamilton seemed to continue with the renewed belief in the car and being able to challenge the top two.
He told Sky Sports, “I’m a little bit gutted really. Obviously, we have such a great crowd here and I was pushing so hard to get on the front row and fight for pole position today. I was gunning for second at least and so to end fifth, it makes tomorrow tough.”
Norris looked as well to be a contender for the front row, along with the seven-time champion he managed to get in the mix after the session was mixed up by the wet conditions. Fernando Alonso continued with Alpine’s strong performances going four hundredths ahead of Russell, with Guanyu Zhou ninth getting into Q3 for the first time in his career along with Nicolas Latifi who was tenth.
Latifi not only equalled his best ever qualifying performance in the Williams but did so despite being deprived of the major car upgrade that was put only on team-mate Alex Albon’s car. Albon was knocked out in the final moments of Q1 and starts his home Grand Prix from sixteenth.
Pierre Gasly went into Saturday admitting Alpha Tauri were slightly further behind than their normal pace, the Frenchman was the fastest of those knocked out in Q2. Gasly finishing half a second ahead of Valtteri Bottas, the Finn made a mistake spinning at Club in Q2 but spilt the Alpha Tauri’s after going eight-hundredths faster than Yuki Tsunoda.
Daniel Ricciardo looked to struggle throughout qualifying, he just scraped through Q1 as the conditions improved but was unable to repeat that in Q2 leaving him fourteenth eight and a half tenths ahead of Esteban Ocon. Both drivers unable to improve in the later part of the session as the rain increased.
The whole session became about being on track and taking advantage of the conditions, from the very start of Q1 all the drivers were trying to complete as many laps as possible. All five drivers knocked out in the first part of qualifying did improve on their last laps.
Albon, in the updated Williams could only manage sixteenth, he is the lowest British-born driver on the grid and was frustrated when asked to complete cooldown laps between runs. He was nearly a tenth faster than the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, with Sebastian Vettel eighteenth.
The four-time champion being knocked out in qualifying in Q1 at Silverstone for the first time in his career.
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