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It is Max Verstappen on pole yet again, but a surprising team has the two spots behind him
It was a tricky stat to qualifying on Saturday at the British Grand Prix, as weather conditions forced teams to try and find the right compounds at the start. But slowly over the hour conditions improved, opening the door for a different look to the starting grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
When the dust settled it was Max Verstappen on pole yet again, but the group behind him offered a bit of a surprise.
Winner: Max Verstappen
For the fifth-straight week, Max Verstappen will start at the front of the field.
It is the longest streak of the Red Bull driver’s career.
He was pushed for the spot until the very end of Q3, as Lando Norris came across the line on provisional pole after the time had run out. But Verstappen was still on a flying lap, and he was able to nip Norris to start on pole Sunday. “From our side, very happy of course to be on pole,” said Verstappen after qualifying. “Looking forward to tomorrow already.”
Loser: Sergio Pérez
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Qualifying woes continue for Sergio Pérez.
The last time Pérez advanced to Q3 in qualifying for a grand prix? The start of May, ahead of the Miami Grand Prix.
A week after failing to advance to Q3 after all his lap times were deleted during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, Pérez failed to advance to Q2 at Silverstone, finishing 16th during the first qualifying session.
The changing weather conditions played a role for sure, but this streak of failures is only going to up the pressure on the Red Bull driver to improve his performance on Saturdays.
Winners: Ferrari
Saturday’s strong qualifying session for the team is yet more confirmation that their recent upgrades have the Scuderia moving in the right direction.
Charles Leclerc will start the British Grand Prix fourth, with Carlos Sainz Jr. behind him in fifth position.
This comes after Leclerc scored a podium with a second-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix, while Sainz notched his first podium of the season at Red Bull Ring in the F1 Sprint race last week.
Ferrari was also 32 points behind Aston Martin for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship entering the Austrian Grand Prix, but now sit just 21 points behind them, and will start ahead of them on Sunday.
So there is a chance Ferrari leaves Silverstone having moved up to third in the Constructors’ standings.
Losers: AlphaTauri
Saturday was another tough afternoon for the AlphaTauri duo of Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries. Both drivers were eliminated from Q1, with Tsunoda placing P17 and De Vries behind him in P19.
The team brought a number of upgrades to the track for the British Grand Prix, and as the drivers themselves noted after practice on Friday, it might take some time to figure everything out.
“With such a large number of new parts that we have introduced, it takes time to understand them. We have definitely seen some gains in a few places, and we’ll use tonight to analyse the data we collected today,” said Tsunoda after finishing P16 in FP1 and P18 in FP2. “Tomorrow is a new day, and we’ll use FP3 to maximise our package in time for qualifying.”
It would seem they did not find the answers in time.
Making matters worse is the P19 finish from De Vries, who as we have noted time and time again is under increasing pressure to keep his seat at AlphaTauri. Another finish at the back of the pact heading into a bye week might just see that pressure reach a boiling point.
Losers: Aston Martin
At the start of the year it looked as if Aston Martin, along with Red Bull, was one of the teams to beat, which opened up the door to questioning when the rest of the field would catch them.
While teams are still trying to catch the Bulls, it seems the field has caught Aston Martin.
Lance Stroll failed to advance to Q3, and will start the Grand Prix in 12th position. Fernando Alonso did manage to reach Q3, but could not crack the top five, and will start the Grand Prix in ninth position.
And, as we will see in a moment, their position in the Constructors’ standings could be slipping away.
Winners: McLaren
Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images
This was a massive Saturday for McLaren.
For a few moments Norris was on provisional pole, and the roar of the crowd at Silverstone told him almost immediately that he had put in a strong lap at the end of Q3. While Verstappen managed to eke by him to take pole, Norris will be starting on the front row in this home race.
But he found a teammate with him in the top three, as rookie Oscar Piastri came across the line third, for his best starting spot of his rookie campaign. “Very very very happy, what a qualifying session,” said Piastri after qualifying. “The car was a rocketship … massive result for the team.”
“To pull that off in Q3 like that was a mega result,” Piastri added. “Can’t think the team enough .. a massive step in the right direction.
As for Norris, he stepped to the microphone for his trackside interview to the roar of the Silverstone crowd. “Pretty insane … I could hear Zak on the in lap on the radio which was the best thing ever,” said the McLaren driver. “It’s always Max, he always ruins everything for everyone,” joked Norris about his friend Verstappen sneaking by him for pole.
Still, Norris remains upbeat. “We couldn’t have had a better result today.”
