Silverstone - Qualifying

Kimi Antonelli was the winner of Saturday's sprint and thus came into qualifying as a performance-defending leader. That, paired with the fact that he managed to achieve more poles than any other driver this season, put him in a high-pressure position as the on-track hour began. Did he deliver up to the standards fans have come to expect from him? 

Midfielders and backmarkers took to the track before the so-called "big teams", although not all of them benefited from the time advantage. Carlos Sainz locked up during his first attempt and went off track, thus seeing his time deleted. George Russell suffered a similar fate, locking up and finding himself in the gravel. This put him in the elimination zone, on the other side of the leaderboard from the two Ferraris who sat comfortably on the very top and opted out of improving on their lap times. Although their times were ultimately beaten by Isack Hadjar's monster effort, they didn't have to worry about falling into the elimination zone. Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez, Franco Colapinto, Valtteri Bottas, and Esteban Ocon finished their day after only one session. 

Q2 began after a short delay. Once again a Ferrari, namely that of Lewis Hamilton, was quickest of all after first attempts and a Mercedes, this time that of Antonelli, had a lap time deleted. The Italian's troubles were very short lived as his second times attempt put him at the very top of the timing sheets. Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz, Oliver Bearman, Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly, and Gabriel Bortoleto made up the elimination zone. 

The fight for pole began with the two Mercedes at the front. Antonelli's time was better than that of his teammate. When time came for second attempts, he was sent out on track ahead of his teammate, a fact about which he loudly expressed his annoyance. Still, he improved his time by 0.2 seconds, strengthening his position. Neither his teammate nor any other driver was able to catch up to his efforts. Despite his promising early performance, Russell fell behind the two Ferraris, once again looking at the back of his young teammate. 

Order of the grid:

1. Kimi Antonelli

2. Charles Leclerc

3. Lewis Hamilton

4. George Russell

5. Isack Hajdar

6. Lando Norris

7. Max Verstappen

8. Oscar Piastri

9. Arvid Lindblad

10. Liam Lawson

11. Gabriel Bortoleto

12. Nico Hulkenberg

13. Oliver Bearman

14. Carlos Sainz

15. Pierre Gasly

16. Alex Albon

17. Esteban Ocon

18. Valtteri Bottas

19. Franco Colapinto

20. Sergio Perez

21. Fernando Alonso

22. Lance Stroll