Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz claim his maiden pole position in Formula 1 with A masterful lap in a wet British Grand Prix qualifying ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in P2 and Charles Leclerc in P3.
The rain had begun falling on Silverstone just minutes before qualifying began, with Verstappen comfortably heading both Q1 and Q2. Verstappen was then leading Q3 in the final moments when Sainz unleashed his final lap to stop the clocks at 1m 40.983 and take P1 with an effort he described in disbelief as “terrible”. On the weekend of his 150th Grand Prix start, though, terrible did very nicely indeed.
The Spaniard becomes the 104th pole-sitter in F1 history and he said, “It was a good lap, I was struggling a lot with the standing water. Pole came as a bit of a surprise. The pace has been there all weekend” during the post-qualifying interview.
Sainz was 0.072s ahead of championship leader Verstappen, with Leclerc P3, 0.315s off his teammate – both Leclerc and Verstappen having suffered Q3 spins while on promising laps.
Sergio Perez was P4 in the second Red Bull, ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in P5, with Lando Norris P6, as Fernando Alonso and George Russell rounded out the top eight. Zhou Guanyu was P9, while Nicholas Latifi survived a scary off at Turn 1 to take P10, on his first-ever Q3 appearance.
Pierre Gasly was P11 for AlphaTauri, ahead of the second Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas and Gasly’s own team mate Yuki Tsunoda, with Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon having fallen foul of worsening conditions in Q2 and failing to make it out, taking P14 and P15.
Failing to make it out of Q1, meanwhile, Alex Albon was P16 – despite being equipped with Williams’ extensive upgrade package, which Latifi didn’t have – while both Haas and Aston Martins went out in the first segment too, the order Kevin Magnussen in P17, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Mick Schumacher and Lance Stroll.
What was said?
“First of all, thank you to the whole crowd for cheering and thanks everyone for staying out there with this rain. Spaniards, we struggle a bit more with this rain, but you can tell that you guys are used to it. Thanks for being there, it was a good lap, but I was struggling with the standing water – on intermediates, there was a lot more standing water on the racing line. It was very easy to get snaps.
“In the end I put together a lap that I thought was nothing special but just put it on the board and see how it is. Pole position, it came a bit of a surprise… If I base myself on my FP2 pace then we should be in a good position to try and hold onto it. I’m sure Max and Charles will put a lot of pressure, but I will try my best, of course” – Carlos Sainz, Ferrari.
