Max Verstappen stunned the McLaren duo with a late Silverstone Qualifying flyer to seize F1 British GP pole position.
The Dutch driver reignited his championship campaign with a late lap of 1:24.892 which denied Oscar Piastri and home favorite Lando Norris a front-row lockout.
The qualifying session held at Silverstone was marked by changing track conditions, strategic gambles, and razor-thin margins that kept teams and fans on edge until the very last moments.
The opening segment, Q1, saw the field tightly packed with all but one driver separated by just six-tenths of a second.
However, the drama began almost immediately when Franco Colapinto spun off his Alpine at the final corner, slid into the gravel and made contact with the barriers.
Although Colapinto managed to get the car moving again, he ultimately came to a halt at Copse corner prompting a red flag and a ten-minute delay as marshals repaired the barrier and cleared the circuit.
The incident left the Argentinian driver stranded in 20th place, his qualifying effort over before it had truly begun.
As Q1 resumed, the intensity only increased. The elimination zone proved unforgiving, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson narrowly missing out in 16th, followed by Kick Sauber duo of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg in 17th and 19th, split by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in 18th.
Q2 brought a shifting dynamic as Max Verstappen eager to stamp his dominance at Silverstone set an early benchmark that McLaren’s Oscar Piastri quickly matched. Lando Norris later delivered his flyer to take the top spot by just under a tenth.
2025 F1 British Grand Prix Qualifying Results
Max Verstappen responds to Mercedes F1 rumours
The second Q2 runs saw further drama as Lewis Hamilton delivered a purple first sector and ultimately went fastest of all with Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, Norris, Verstappen, and Piastri close behind.
Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Isack Hadjar, Alex Albon, and Esteban Ocon failed to progress to Q3. Tsunoda’s early exit was particularly disappointing as the Japanese driver struggled to extract performance from his Red Bull, continuing a trend of underwhelming qualifying results.
The final segment, Q3, was set for a showdown among the sport’s elite. Haas rookie Oliver Bearman set the initial benchmark but Verstappen quickly eclipsed it. Piastri later surged to the top with Norris and Hamilton slotting in just behind.
As the clock wound down, Norris was the first to complete his final attempt which matched Piastri’s in the opening sectors but a slight misstep in the closing sector cost him two hundredths of a second.
Verstappen extracted every ounce of performance from the RB21 on his last lap and delivered two purple sectors, ultimately posting a sensational 1:24.892 to claim F1 British GP pole position from Piastri by just over a tenth of a second.
Piastri who had held provisional pole after the first runs was forced to settle for second while Norris was a mere 0.015 seconds further back in third.
Russell’s late surge secured him fourth ahead of Hamilton who managed to outqualify Ferrari teammate Leclerc for only the second time in regular qualifying this season.
Kimi Antonelli despite qualifying seventh faces a three-place grid penalty for collision with Verstappen in Austria. Oliver Bearman’s impressive eighth-place effort for Haas was overshadowed by a ten-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement in final practice, relegating him down the order for Sunday’s race.
Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten with both drivers maximizing the potential of their respective Aston Martin and Alpine machines.
READ MORE: F1 Drivers’ wives and girlfriends: Who are current Formula 1 stars dating?
