British GP Qualifying : Hamilton Qualifies in P1 ahead of Max and Bottas for Saturday’s sprint race

Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton qualifies in P1 ahead of his championship rival Max Verstappen in P2 and Valtteri Bottas in P3 for Saturday’s first ever sprint race.

The Brit hooked up a fastest lap in Q3 in front of roaring sold out Silverstone crowd. After the qualifying Lewis credited fans for his performance.

“We’ve been missing this for a whole year. To see the energy in the crowd. This [result] is down to the fans… I couldn’t have done it without them, so thank you… I’m over the moon” said, Lewis.

Unlike other race weekends, Lewis won’t be awarded with Pole for his efforts, instead he will get a chance to start the first ever F1 sprint race from P1 on the grid on Saturday.

Hamilton’s championship rival Max Verstappen is not too far from P1 time, The Dutchman is just 0.075 seconds shy from Lewis’ P1 time. So it will be a interesting first corner battle to watch for in tomorrow’s sprint race.

Max is not too concerned about Lewis & Mercedes’ resurgence in Silverstone after dominating last three races in row. “We were close, so it’s alright. This is a weird feeling because qualifying flat out doesn’t mean so much. I am still very confident we can have a very strong race.” said, Max after his qualifying.

With rumors swirling around Formula 1 paddock about his Mercedes future, Valtteri Bottas needs some really good performances to secure his future. The Fin started the weekend on a positive note by qualifying in P3, 0.194 seconds shy of his teammate’s P1 time.

After qualifying VALTTERI said, “It was a good qualifying. We managed to get on pole as a team. I look forward to Saturday. There’s all to play for. We are there, and we are there to fight.”

Ferrari man Charles Leclerc comes home in P4 ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in P5, The Mexican’s final flying lap was deleted for exceeding the track limits.

McLaren duo Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo comes home in P6 & P7 in their home race ahead of impressive George Russell in P8 for Williams with a sole flying lap in Q3.

But it was his mega lap at the end of Q2, which put him in seventh brought Silverstone crowd on their toes. He managed to beat Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who finished P9, and Sebastian Vettel – the four-time champion rounding out the top 10 for Aston Martin.