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Commentary

F1 British GP Live commentary and updates - FP2 & Sprint

Live updates from Saturday's final practice and sprint qualifying race for the British GP at Silverstone.

By: Lewis Duncan, James Newbold

Summary

Summary
  • Verstappen takes pole in the first ever F1 sprint qualifying race ahead of Hamilton and Bottas 
  • Contact between Sainz and Russell to be investigated after the session
  • Perez fails to finish after suffering damage going off the track
Sprint Leaderboard
  1. Verstappen, Red Bull
  2. Hamilton, Mercedes
  3. Bottas, Mercedes
  4. Leclerc, Ferrari
  5. Norris, McLaren
  6. Ricciardo, McLaren
  7. Alonso, Alpine
  8. Vettel, Aston Martin
  9. Russell, Williams
  10. Ocon, Alpine
Status: Stopped

For now though we will say farewell on the live text commentary and wish you a very pleasant Saturday night! Remember, the British GP starts tomorrow at 3pm local time. Bye bye!

It is time to digest the drivers' and teams' reactions to the first F1 sprint and draw conclusions from the events at Silverstone. Please let us know what you thought of it as well!
So, that was an all-action 17 laps of F1 at Silverstone. Need a recap of how it unfolded? Look no further: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/british-gp-sprint-qualifying-report/6632306/
Bottas on P3: "We tried to do something different [using the soft tyres] and the target was to get him [Verstappen] at the start and we both had a good start but at Turn 1 I was slightly blocked."
Hamilton on P2: "I gave it everything today. The support of the fans means the world to me and I am sorry I wasn't able to get the win in the sprint. I hit the target with my start but it didn't work out."
 
Verstappen on his sprint win: "We were pushing each other hard as the tyres were blistering a lot. Happy to have scored the three points and it is funny to say I have scored the pole position too but we'll take it."
Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas are ushered into the back of a truck for the new post-sprint presentation 'victory' lap.
With Perez retiring on the penultimate lap he will start the British GP from the back. Red Bulls will top and tail Sunday's grid.

Alonso was the biggest disruptor in the sprint - meant in the most positive sense - as his gamble on the softs results in seventh having climbed to fifth at the start.

Verstappen takes it by 1.4s ahead of Hamilton meaning he will start the British GP from pole position. Bottas takes third with Leclerc in fourth.
Max Verstappen wins the first ever F1 sprint qualifying race!
Perez has been told to retire the car.
Final lap time - this has flown by! It was always going to, but you know what we mean.
Bottas, on those softs remember, is still holding station in third. He's six seconds off Hamilton and keeping an eye on the 3s gap to Leclerc behind him.
Alonso has been given a warning for moving under braking. He's holding onto seventh with three laps to go.
Lovely move from Sainz. Gasly ran deep into Vale and the Ferrari driver kept it tight to slip up the inside at Club.
Verstappen has responded to Hamilton's pace with a new fastest lap. The gap is now 2.3s at the front.
Sainz moves past Gasly for 11th with Ocon just ahead. Perez still stuck in 18th.
Vettel once again in DRS rang of Alonso into Brooklands but the Alpine defends heavily. Russell looks to have dropped off the tail of Vettel on this lap.
Both Verstappen and Hamilton reporting front-right tyre blistering on lap 13. Not long to go in this race but that'll be a worry for the top two.
Alonso's pace is dropping and he's creating a train back to the recovering Sainz in 12th.
"I'm giving it everything. Can you give me more power?" Hamilton asks over his Mercedes team radio. "We're looking into it," is the response.
Hamilton responds with a 1m30.065s to reclaim the fastest lap - but no bonus point for that in this sprint - to close the deficit to Verstappen to 1.6s. Maybe this isn't all over yet.
Vettel is within DRS range of Alonso now.
Ricciardo has found a way by Alonso on lap nine to take sixth place. The Alpine driver will look to defend seventh against Vettel who is closing up to him.
Sainz could get himself back into the top 10 at this rate. He's just taken 12th from Raikkonen and he's just over two seconds behind Ocon in 10th.
Verstappen steps up his pace again to set a new fastest lap of 1m30.190s to pull out another couple of tenths on Hamilton. Less than 10 laps to go and the gap is 2.1s.
The Russell/Sainz incident will now be investigated after the session.
Perez has worked his way past the Haas of Schumacher for 18th. He's 1.4s behind Latifi in the Williams now onto lap eight.
Verstappen is maintaining the gap to Hamilton at 1.7s, while Bottas is starting to drop off the pace of the front two but is clear of Leclerc in fourth by 2.3s.
The incident between Russell and Sainz on the first lap is now under investigation. Sainz now up to 13th after Perez spun.
Norris is up to fifth on lap six, getting by Alonso up the inside at Village, and the Alpine driver is now under pressure from Ricciardo.
Perez's mistake promotes the second of the Alpine cars of Ocon into the top 10.
Perez dropped it on the power at Chapel and drops to 19th. That is a nightmare for his Sunday hopes.

Verstappen sets another fastest lap - this time a 1m30.357s - to push out his lead by another three tenths. Hamilton is 1.6s back and already running out of time to do much about it.

Perez has spun at Chapel corner!
Sainz gains another spot on Stroll to 14th. Not a great run for the second Aston Martin driver after four laps given team-mate Vettel is running well in 10th in that group headed by Alonso in fifth.
Verstappen has pulled out a 1.3s lead at the end of lap 3 so he is out of DRS range for Hamilton.
Sainz has recovered a spot to 15th ahead of Giovinazzi after his lap-one contact with Russell.

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