Hamilton takes Silverstone sprint pole for Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton grabbed sprint pole for Ferrari at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, edging Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli by 0.011 seconds in a session held in extreme heat with track temperatures reaching 44 degrees Celsius. Hamilton was fastest in practice and in all three Sprint Qualifying segments, posting a 1:28.376 on his way to his first pole in either Formula 1 qualifying format since the previous season’s Sprint in China. The result came three weeks after his win in Barcelona and marked an encouraging sign for Ferrari in his second season with the team.

Max Verstappen recovered from a difficult session to qualify third, Charles Leclerc was fourth and George Russell finished fifth at his home race. Lando Norris damaged his car in SQ1 but still advanced to SQ3 and qualified sixth, ahead of Oscar Piastri in seventh, Isack Hadjar in eighth, Liam Lawson in ninth and Arvid Lindblad in 10th. Pierre Gasly missed the final segment by a small margin, while Haas driver Ollie Bearman was the first to be eliminated in SQ1, missing advancement by 0.010 seconds.

Russell said Ferrari looked unexpectedly strong at Silverstone and described Mercedes as being on the back foot this season, adding that “some things aren’t quite making sense.” He said the Mercedes W17 felt good in the high-speed sections but the team was still missing lap time. Antonelli said he left some time on the table in SQ3 and that a balance change helped him feel better, while also backing Mercedes to fight for victory on Saturday.