Verstappen storms to pole position at Silverstone ahead of Piastri and Norris

Max Verstappen has clinched pole position at the British Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver storming through with a stunning lap to put himself at the front of the grid ahead of the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

While Piastri had secured provisional pole during the first runs of Q3, the Australian made a mistake on his final effort and could not improve. But Verstappen put his lap together perfectly to go fastest on an effort of 1m 24.892s, putting himself 0.103s clear of Piastri’s McLaren.

The other papaya car of Lando Norris will start from third, the Briton also unable to better his previous time on his last flying lap. George Russell followed for Mercedes in fourth, while Lewis Hamilton wound up in fifth, despite the Ferrari driver being Piastri’s closest challenger in the first runs.

Hamilton’s team mate Charles Leclerc claimed sixth, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli taking seventh ahead of Ollie Bearman in eighth, though the Haas driver will start near the back of the field thanks to a 10-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement in third practice.

Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin in ninth place, while Pierre Gasly was an impressive 10th at the wheel of the Alpine.

Williams had a disappointing day, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon both exiting Q2 in P11 and P14 respectively. It was also another tough outing for Yuki Tsunoda, who found himself down in P12 for Red Bull.

Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar took 13th place, with the Haas of Esteban Ocon the final car to miss out on the top 10 shootout in 15th.

There was drama in Q1 when Alpine’s Franco Colapinto spun off into the barriers at the final corner, bringing out the red flags and leaving the Argentinian driver down in P20.

Also eliminated in the first segment of Qualifying – which saw the whole field barring Colapinto covered by just six-tenths – were Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson in 16th, the Kick Sauber duo of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg in 17th and 19th respectively and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll between them in 18th.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Verstappen fastest as Colapinto brings out red flags

After three busy practice sessions – each featuring a different driver at the top of the timesheets – it was time for Saturday’s highly-anticipated Qualifying session. Russell clinched pole at home in 2024, but who would put themselves at the front of the grid this time around?

Bortoleto was the first to hit the track as the green light signalled the start of Q1, the Kick Sauber team having repaired the car in time following the Brazilian’s spin into the gravel during FP3. Conditions looked to be dry, but Gasly hinted at a change as he radioed in to report “some drizzle”.

As the rest of the pack started to emerge – all sporting the C4 soft tyres – Piastri went fastest during the early runs, his lap of 1m 26.002s putting him 0.039s clear of Verstappen in second and Alonso in third.

There was drama with just over eight minutes remaining as Colapinto had a moment at the final corner and spun into the barriers, bringing out the yellow flags. The Alpine driver initially got going again before then pulling off the track again near the pit exit, resulting in a red flag being thrown to allow for the Argentine’s car to be recovered.

When the session resumed with six minutes and 49 seconds remaining, the drivers at risk were Bortoleto, Ocon, Hulkenberg, the stricken Colapinto and Gasly, with Tsunoda on the bubble in 15th place – while leader Piastri stated that the drops of rain seemed “worse than before”.

Albon improved to climb up to third, while Verstappen and Piastri swapped fastest laps at the top of the timesheets. Elsewhere Hamilton and Leclerc looked to potentially be at risk in P11 and P13, with Hamilton told that he did not have enough fuel remaining for another lap.

Leclerc went on to move himself up to ninth, while Hamilton was pushed to 14th but stayed out of the elimination zone and Sainz climbed to eighth. Others were not so lucky, however; Lawson exited in 16th, a contrast from his sixth place on the grid last time out in Austria.

The Kick Saubers of Bortoleto and Hulkenberg exited in P17 and P19 respectively, with Stroll sandwiched between them in P18 while the aforementioned Colapinto ended the segment in P20 following his accident. Colapinto aside, the entire field was covered by just six-tenths in an incredibly close Q1.

Knocked out: Lawson, Bortoleto, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Colapinto

Q2 – Hamilton leads Leclerc, Williams face double exit

After an initially quiet start, Verstappen led the field out as Q2 got underway at Silverstone. The Dutchman soon went fastest on a 1m 25.316s – before Piastri incredibly set the exact same time, going into P2 given that he set his time after Verstappen.

More was to come though from Norris, who beat both drivers by 0.085s to go to the top, a welcome sight to the fans watching on in his grandstand. Further back, Hamilton, Antonelli, Leclerc, Gasly and Tsunoda were the names at risk in the bottom five, all of whom had sported used tyres on their first runs.

Alonso, meanwhile, was left unimpressed after encountering a slow-moving Antonelli, the two-time World Champion calling the incident “crazy” before suggesting that the Italian – who already has a three-place grid drop from his Lap 1 crash in Austria – would receive a penalty.

As the segment entered its final minutes, everybody was back out on track in an effort to improve and get themselves into the top 10 shootout. The Scuderia cars bolted on fresh rubber for this run, enabling Leclerc to initially go fastest but Hamilton stormed to the head of the timesheets on a 1m 25.084s, just under five-hundredths clear of his team mate.

Despite moving up to 10th, Tsunoda found himself pushed down the order as others bettered their times, dropping the Red Bull driver down to 12th. Williams also faced disappointment as Sainz and Albon exited in 11th and 14th respectively, with a downbeat Albon reporting: “We made it difficult for ourselves.” Also out were Hadjar in P13 and Ocon in P15.

Knocked out: Sainz, Tsunoda, Hadjar, Albon, Ocon

Q3 – Verstappen beats the field to pole

After an action-packed build-up, attentions turned to the top 10 shootout at Silverstone, with the Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes duos joined by Verstappen, Alonso, Gasly and Bearman, though the latter would drop down the order thanks to a 10-place grid penalty from a red flag infringement in FP3.

As the first laps went on the board, Piastri secured provisional pole position by pumping in a 1m 24.995s, while Hamilton proved to be his nearest challenger on a lap 0.135s adrift of the Australian. The other McLaren of Norris was third, with Verstappen and Leclerc following behind.

With the clock ticking down, the time arrived for the decisive final runs. Could Piastri hold on to score his fifth P1 grid slot of the year, or might Hamilton add a record eighth pole position at Silverstone to his name – and his first in general since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix?

Piastri looked to be improving, but a mistake on his lap meant that the Australian could not better his previous lap. The likes of Norris, Hamilton and Leclerc were also unable to make improvements – but Verstappen put together a sublime lap to grab pole position, the Red Bull man going quickest thanks to his effort of 1m 24.892s.

This put him 0.103s clear of Piastri, while Norris had to settle for third. Russell moved up the order to take fourth, pushing Hamilton and Leclerc down to fifth and sixth respectively, while Antonelli claimed seventh, though the Italian will drop down three places after receiving a penalty last time out in Austria.

Bearman slotted into eighth but, like Antonelli, will not keep his original position owing to a grid drop, the Haas driver moving down 10 places. Alonso and Gasly, meanwhile, rounded out the top 10.

Key quote

"It was tricky out there with the wind," said Verstappen. "Throughout the whole of Qualifying it was shifting around a bit, and around here with these cars they are extremely sensitive to it. Just tried to tidy it up throughout Qualifying and that final lap was good enough. This is a proper track in Qualifying, where you have to go flat-out on all these corners, you have to be really committed and that's really enjoyable."

What's next

The 2025 British Grand Prix is set to begin at 1500 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action from Silverstone.