England: Qualifications – Bottas on pole, six little thousandths ahead of Hamilton!
Valtteri Bottas sets the fastest time in Q3, just 6 thousandths ahead of Lewis Hamilton! Also within the same tenth, Charles Leclerc, third, ahead of Max Verstappen, promising an explosive second row! Pierre Gasly takes fifth place, ahead of a lackluster Sebastian Vettel.
The English humidity present during FP3 has dissipated, and the qualifying session at Silverstone begins under partially cloudy skies.
Q1 – Perez overtakes Magnussen at the last moment!
Outside of the top 3 teams, all the cars hit the track in the first few minutes. Carlos Sainz sets the provisional best time before the arrival of the six drivers with the best cars.
Equipped with soft tires, Charles Leclerc easily takes the lead in the times on his first attempt with 1:25:628. He temporarily breaks the circuit record before being dethroned by Lewis Hamilton with 1:25:513, performances obviously facilitated by the resurfacing of the circuit, radically different compared to the 2018 edition.
At ease since the beginning of the weekend, Pierre Gasly starts his session smoothly, clocking the 8th provisional time, behind the two McLarens. His teammate, Max Verstappen, takes 3rd place, less than 2 tenths behind Lewis Hamilton.
At the back of the grid, we obviously find the Williams, accompanied by the Racing Points, who finish the timing sheet. The 15th place, synonymous with advancing to Q2, is contested between the Alfa Romeos and the Toro Rossos.
At the end of the last lap, it is ultimately Kevin Magnussen who is eliminated, much to everyone’s surprise, with the Dane ruining his final attempt by running onto the grass at the seventh turn. The Haas driver is knocked out at the last moment by Pérez, who improves his time. Meanwhile, the other Racing Point driver, Lance Stroll, is eliminated for the 13th consecutive time!
The eliminated:
16 MAY
17 KVY
18 STR
19 RUS
20 KUB
Q2 – Norris and Albon on top!
For the start of Q2, four drivers are on mediums: Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc, and Ricciardo. The rest of the field is equipped with the soft, red-sidewall tires. This choice determines the starting tires for the race, and Sebastian Vettel therefore opts for a start on softs for Sunday.
Charles Leclerc temporarily takes the best time in 1:25.646 ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen.
In the fight to advance to Q3, we find the Alfa Romeos, Albon’s Toro Rosso, Romain Grosjean’s Haas, and Sergio Perez’s Racing Point. Both Renaults seem capable of reaching the top 10. For his part, Grosjean complains of losing the good feeling from his tires and is unable to perform, a second slower than in Q1 on his first attempt.
The French driver still manages to improve on his last lap, without reaching Q3, as has been the case for 5 weekends. Despite another strong performance, Antonio Giovinazzi (11th) narrowly misses out, eliminated by Vettel, who had a scare finding himself in the red zone just seconds before the end! On the other side of the barrier, Alexander Albon, one of the two rookies qualified in Q3 with Lando Norris, a brilliant 8th, and who for the third consecutive time outperforms Carlos Sainz, only 13th!
The Eliminated:
11 GIO
12 RAI
13 SAI
14 BIG
15 PER
Q3: The first attempt is the right one for Bottas!
First big player on track, Hamilton is aggressive but slips in the sixth corner, losing the front end and caught out by the famous new surface. The five-time world champion loses a few tenths, allowing Bottas to take the lead after the first test with a time of 1:25.093, a new track record! After the first runs, Verstappen is provisionally the third fastest, ahead of Leclerc, Gasly, and Vettel, who is only sixth, six-tenths off Bottas’s pace.
During the return to the pits of these protagonists, Lando Norris takes the opportunity to make his only attempt in this Q3. The Briton sets the eighth provisional time, inserting himself between the two Renaults.
The nine other cars return to the track with two minutes remaining. Slower on his last attempt, Bottas holds the lead against Hamilton and just barely against Leclerc, by a tenth. And for good reason: Hamilton is six-thousandths behind, Leclerc seventy-nine thousandths! Verstappen finishes the session fourth, less than two-tenths behind the Finn, and ahead of Gasly, in a satisfying fifth place. He will have Vettel alongside him, in sixth, who didn’t feature in this session. The German will start sixth, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, the best of the rest, and Lando Norris.
Mercedes confirms its dominance at Silverstone, with six consecutive poles. But this time, it’s Valtteri Bottas who will start on pole tomorrow!
