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British GP: Bottas beats Hamilton to Silverstone F1 pole by 0.006s

Valtteri Bottas beat Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the British Grand Prix by six thousandths of a second

Bottas set the pace on the first runs in Q3, although Hamilton's time was compromised by the rear of his car stepping out at Brooklands, which meant he ran wide at the exit of the corner.

Although Bottas was unable to improve on his second run in Q3, Hamilton fell just short of grabbing pole position having not been able to match his first-sector pace from the first run.

Ferrari driver Charles Lerclerc was third fastest, within a tenth of Bottas, and a tenth of a second clear of the lead Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

Leclerc looked a threat for pole position, but lost time to the Mercedes drivers in the final sector.

Pierre Gasly was fifth fastest after a strong run during practice, although was 0.314 seconds slower than Verstappen.

Sebastian Vettel was sixth after a difficult run in Q3, lapping six-tenths off pole position.

Renault's Daniel Ricciardo was seventh fastest ahead of the McLaren of Lando Norris.

Alex Albon did well to reach Q3 and ended up qualifying ninth, lapping 0.041s quicker than the second Renault of Nico Hulkenberg.

The Mercedes and Red Bull drivers will start the race on medium-compound Pirellis thanks to using that tyre to set their Q2 times, with the rest of the top 10 qualifiers using softs.

Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi was quickest of those eliminated in Q2 after being bumped by Vettel at the end of the session.

Giovinazzi was 27-thousandths of a second quicker than team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who ended up 12th ahead of McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr.

Sainz said he was unsurprised to be down in 13th place after failing to improve on his second Q2 run.

Haas driver Romain Grosjean was 14th fastest ahead of the Racing Point of Sergio Perez, who also failed to improve on his second run.

Kevin Magnussen was eliminated in Q1 and ended up 16th overall after being jumped by Perez, who was the final driver to improve his time in the first segment of qualifying and outpaced the Haas driver by 0.013s.

Magnussen ran through the gravel at the Luffield right-hander on his final lap while "trying to make up for something that wasn't there", so was unable to improve on his first-run time.

Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat failed to improve his time on his second set of softs, so ended up 17th after what he described over the radio as a "poor" lap on his final attempt.

Racing Point's Lance Stroll was eliminated in Q1 for the 10th time in 2019 after running wide at the exit of Stowe and Club on his final lap and losing time.

George Russell won the intra-Williams battle for 19th place, lapping almost half-a-second faster than Robert Kubica.

Provisional starting grid

Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m25.093s -
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m25.099s 0.006s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m25.172s 0.079s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1m25.276s 0.183s
5 Pierre Gasly Red Bull/Honda 1m25.590s 0.497s
6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m25.787s 0.694s
7 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1m26.182s 1.089s
8 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1m26.224s 1.131s
9 Alexander Albon Toro Rosso/Honda 1m26.345s 1.252s
10 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m26.386s 1.293s
11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1m26.519s 1.426s
12 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1m26.546s 1.453s
13 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren/Renault 1m26.578s 1.485s
14 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m26.757s 1.664s
15 Sergio Perez Racing Point/Mercedes 1m26.928s 1.835s
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m26.662s 1.569s
17 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Honda 1m26.721s 1.628s
18 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1m26.762s 1.669s
19 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1m27.789s 2.696s
20 Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes 1m28.257s 3.164s


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