Lewis Hamilton claimed a remarkable pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the British Grand Prix after a thrilling Friday at Silverstone saw him top the leaderboard through practice and each of the three qualifying sessions.
Hamilton’s victory at the Barcelona Grand Prix two weeks ago - his first in Ferrari red - has lit a fire under the seven-time Formula 1 champion who is seeking to close the gap on the drivers’ championship leader Kimi Antonelli. Hamilton, who finished fifth in Austria last time out, seemed to feed off the energy of his home crowd as he came out onto track with focus and intensity.
His Ferrari had pace from the get go and the early signs from the practice session looked promising with Hamilton going quicker than Antonelli, and his Mercedes teammate George Russell, despit the 19-year-old setting faster times through the first two sectors of the lap.
Hamilton’s ability to recover time through the slower bends, something matched by his own teammate Charles Leclerc, made up for the seeming deficit to Mercedes on the straights which hindered Ferrari in Austria.
However, even that benefit seemed to slip away for Antonelli as sprint qualifying came around with Hamilton looking in brilliant touch after the circuit he has won it a record nine times.
With conditions close the perfect for racing it was alway going to be a close affair between Hamilton and Antonelli who had been the two closest rivals in the second sprint qualifying session. With each of the five teams who made it into SQ3 waiting for the ideal moment to head onto track, there was just enough time for one pace-setting lap before the chequered flag.
Antonelli crossed the line first and set a flying timeof 1:28.387 and shot to the top of the leaderboard. Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari crossed mere seconds later and was unable to displace the championship leader. That left Hamilton as Ferrari’s last chance of a pole sitter and he duly obliged.
A rapid lap, especially through sector three, saw the 41-year-old clinch pole by just +0.011 ahead of Antonelli and it sets up the prospect of an exciting start for tomorrow’s sprint race. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen remains in the mix as well having finished P3 ahead of Leclerc through Russell’s Mercedes had to settle for P5.
"I can't express to you how big a dream it is, still to this day, building up to this day. When you think about every corner and the kind of the flow you can get into at this track, and if you've got the set-up right and the right team," said Hamilton after sprint qualifying.
"The car has felt really great today - thanks to everyone back at the factory. We're continuing to push, bringing tiny little bits here. Every single weekend we're showing up and everyone has pushed to the max.
"I'm really grateful to get that pole. I was quick through all the sessions, but I was very close to these guys and the team really deserves it, so big thank you to everyone here.
"We're ahead of the Mercedes and the Red Bulls - these guys have so much power, they've been doing amazing all year. The boys in blue [Mercedes] this weekend but my team just won't let up, that's what I'm so proud of.
“It won't always be like this. We didn't expect at Silverstone that we would be competing for the front row. We really didn't, so this is an amazing surprise."
The light for Saturday’s sprint race goes green at 12pm with Hamilton aiming to gain some points back on Antonelli and fully kick off a title challenge.
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