Lewis Hamilton gives his first big show at Silverstone. The Mercedes driver leaves world championship leader Max Verstappen behind – the best precondition for a pole position.
Lewis Hamilton It was over the moon – and the English fans over! The seven-times Formula 1 world champion raised hopes of another home win with his fastest time ahead of world championship leader Max Verstappen in qualifying at Silverstone.
At least the Briton actually got the best starting position for the battle for pole position. “We extract everything from the performance. This is incredibly special,” the 36-year-old said to the cheers of tens of thousands of spectators. But it was just a step forward.”
The upgrades from Mercedes seem to be working. Because behind Verstappen came Valtteri Bottas Mercedes’ second man to the finish. “This has been good progress,” said team principal Toto Wolff. “Maybe we opened a little something.”
Sebastian Vettel At Aston Martin you landed 10th and would be in a position to win points in the Grand Prix. New Haas player Mick Schumacher finished 19th, and the 22-year-old said: “In the real race, we hope to start more and more.”
After qualifying, a struggle for the pole
Even if it feels like first place in the playoffs is like first place for Hamilton, the battle for the best starting position is right around the corner. The Formula 1 It is testing a new format, so the Grand Prix of Great Britain’s standings will be decided on Sunday at the 100km sprint on Saturday (5.30pm/CEST/Sky). There are even points for the fastest sprinting trio: three for the first, two for the second and one for the third.
“We have to take care of ourselves because the car is actually very good. But there was so much undercut, I couldn’t attack in the corners,” complained Verstappen, who has won the last three Grand Prix races. “But we have a strong racing car, we just have to control our problems.” Verstappen is second behind Hamilton in the sprint.
Mercedes is the course at Silverstone. The Silver Arrow has finished first nine times in a row, and Hamilton himself has been in the lead seven times in his career. “I was hoping we’d get here with the energy of the fans and what we did in the prep work,” said Hamilton, who sat in the simulator on Friday morning.
The excitement reminded the record world champion of his first pole at Silverstone in 2007. “It was just qualifying,” said Wolff. “The car is there, that’s the most important thing. Now we hope to be there for the long-term too.”
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