F1 British GP: Hamilton tops qualifying ahead of inaugural sprint race
Lewis Hamilton will start Formula 1’s first sprint qualifying race from first place ahead of Max Verstappen, after the Mercedes driver topped Friday evening qualifying at the British Grand Prix.


Hamilton led the pack after the first runs in Q3 with a 1m26.134s, with Verstappen – who had commandingly led the sole practice session on Friday – trailing and unhappy with his Red Bull understeering around Silverstone.
On the final runs, Hamilton looked set to improve the fastest time with purple sectors in the opening two thirds of the lap, but a lurid slide exiting the first part of the final sequence of Turns at Club cost him, and he did not go quicker.
But although Verstappen cut the gap to his title rival to 0.075-seconds from 0.172s after the first runs, the championship leader took second – to the delight of the packed Silverstone crowd.
Valtteri Bottas claimed third in the second Mercedes, with Charles Leclerc fourth after Sergio Perez lost his best and final lap in Q3 for running too wide out of Stowe, which shuffled the Mexican driver behind the Ferrari.
Lando Norris pipped Daniel Ricciardo to sixth, reversing the order between the McLaren team-mates through Q1 and Q2.

George Russell, Williams FW43B
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
George Russell ran an offset Q3 programme after sensationally making it through to the final segment, running solo with over four minutes on his sole run in the third part of qualifying.
His 1m26.971s was cheered all the way around by his home fans, with that time putting him ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr and Sebastian Vettel, who lost his first Q3 time for a track limits infringement at Stowe, at the end of the top 10.
In Q2, Russell’s lap jump to reach Q3 for the second race in a row knocked out Fernando Alonso, as Norris also slotted in just ahead of the Alpine driver late on and left him 11th.
Pierre Gasly took 12th ahead of Esteban Ocon, who was the only eliminated driver not to set a personal best on their final laps in the middle segment.
Antonio Giovinazzi could not reproduce his fastest time from Q1, where he was 12th, as he finished Q2 in 14th for Alfa Romeo, ahead of Lance Stroll, who did find time compared to his best lap in the opening part of the session, but not enough to gain him any places for the sprint qualifying race grid.

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT02
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
In Q1, Yuki Tsunoda could not set a personal best time on his final lap in the opening segment as he wound up 16th and eliminated in the second AlphaTauri.
Kimi Raikkonen and Nicholas Latifi did set their best times on their last laps but could not find enough time for Alfa Romeo and Williams respectively, as they ended up 17th and 18th.
The Haas pair took the final two places, with Mick Schumacher leading Nikita Mazepin, who half-spun late-on in Q1 after losing the rear of his car putting the power down exiting Turn 3, Village.
All the running on Friday night took place on the soft tyres – per the rules of the sprint qualifying race weekend format – with no need to take the rubber used in Q2 to start the grand prix on Sunday.
All teams will therefore be free to pick the tyres they want to start on for both the sprint qualifying race and grand prix.
British GP qualifying result
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | |
Mercedes | 1'26.134 | |
2 | |
Red Bull | 1'26.209 | 0.075 |
3 | |
Mercedes | 1'26.328 | 0.194 |
4 | |
Ferrari | 1'26.828 | 0.694 |
5 | |
Red Bull | 1'26.844 | 0.710 |
6 | |
McLaren | 1'26.897 | 0.763 |
7 | |
McLaren | 1'26.899 | 0.765 |
8 | |
Williams | 1'26.971 | 0.837 |
9 | |
Ferrari | 1'27.007 | 0.873 |
10 | |
Aston Martin | 1'27.179 | 1.045 |
11 | |
Alpine | 1'27.245 | 1.111 |
12 | |
AlphaTauri | 1'27.273 | 1.139 |
13 | |
Alpine | 1'27.340 | 1.206 |
14 | |
Alfa Romeo | 1'27.617 | 1.483 |
15 | |
Aston Martin | 1'27.665 | 1.531 |
16 | |
AlphaTauri | 1'28.043 | 1.909 |
17 | |
Alfa Romeo | 1'28.062 | 1.928 |
18 | |
Williams | 1'28.254 | 2.120 |
19 | |
Haas | 1'28.738 | 2.604 |
20 | |
Haas | 1'29.051 | 2.917 |
View full results |
Related video

Horner: F1 should switch to high-revving loud engines from 2025
British Grand Prix qualifying results: Hamilton takes first-ever F1 sprint pole

Latest news
Ferrari: F1 team orders idea discussed more outside than internally
Ferrari says the use of team orders between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz is “more discussed outside Ferrari than inside Ferrari” as it targets parity with its Formula 1 drivers.
Aston Martin: CFD data shows rear wing doesn't hurt F1 rules intent
Aston Martin says simulation data it gave to the FIA proved that its radical rear wing idea did not scupper the intent of Formula 1's 2022 rules to improve racing.
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
US fan demand can support "many more" F1 races, says COTA chief
The boss of the Circuit of The Americas believes there is enough demand from North American Formula 1 fans to support “many more” races in the United States.
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid
How studying Schumacher helped make Coulthard a McLaren F1 mainstay
Winner of 13 grands prix including Monaco and survivor of a life-changing plane crash, David Coulthard could be forgiven for having eased into a quiet retirement – but, as MARK GALLAGHER explains, in fact he’s busier than ever, running an award-winning media company and championing diversity in motor racing. Not bad for someone who, by his own admission, wasn’t quite the fastest driver of his generation…
Could F1 move to a future beyond carbonfibre?
Formula 1 has ambitious goals for improving its carbon footprint, but could this include banishing its favoured composite material? PAT SYMONDS considers the alternatives to carbonfibre and what use, if any, those materials have in a Formula 1 setting
How Russell has proven he deserves to be Hamilton's Mercedes heir
He’s fast, he’s smart, and he’s already shown he’s not going to let Max Verstappen intimidate him. George Russell won’t say it, but LUKE SMITH says he’s ready to take the lead at Mercedes when Lewis Hamilton moves on to a quieter life. And – whisper it – Mercedes and Lewis are starting to think so too