Max Verstappen claimed pole position for Formula 1's 2025 British Grand Prix after an epic qualifying battle with the two McLarens and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
Championship leader Oscar Piastri had provisional pole after the first runs in Q3, on a 1m24.995s lap - but Piastri had a huge slide coming out of the final chicane on his second run and failed to go under 1m25s.
McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, third after the first runs having run a bit deep into Turn 3, improved to a 1m25.010s on his final run but that wasn’t enough to improve his grid spot.
That was because of Verstappen’s dig-deep final lap. The Red Bull was fourth quickest after the first runs, on a 1m25.2s with Verstappen complaining “the car is just so difficult”, but Verstappen took advantage of Piastri’s mistake to pip him to pole by just over a tenth of a second.
Having pushed Verstappen and the McLarens hard in final practice, the Ferraris didn’t really show up until the second runs in Q2, where they ended up 1-2 with Hamilton ahead of Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton looked in contention for pole after going second quickest on his first Q3 run, but his second lap was only a slight improvement and allowed George Russell to sneak his Mercedes ahead onto the second row of the grid.
Leclerc rounded out the top six, just 0.026s slower than Hamilton, but a quarter of a second clear of the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who carries a three-place grid penalty for wiping out Verstappen on the first lap of the previous race in Austria.
Ollie Bearman’s Haas was the fastest of the midfield cars in eighth, but he carries a 10-place grid penalty for crashing at high speed under red flags in final practice.
Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine rounded out the top 10, Alonso lapping consistently in the top 10 and Gasly starring in Q2 after scraping his way out of Q1.
Tsunoda and Williams pair fall in Q2
Star turns from Bearman and Gasly in Q2 and a late improvement from Antonelli meant no place in Q3 for either Williams or Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Tsunoda fell 0.115s short of making Q3 thanks to Gasly’s excellent final lap of Q2.
Carlos Sainz was even closer, just 0.035s slower than Gasly, while Williams team-mate Alex Albon ended up a disappointing 14th, describing his Q2 car as “totally different” to the one that was fourth quickest in Q1.
Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon were the other drivers to fall in Q2, having also been top-10 fast in Q1.
Hamilton survives Q1 scare
Hamilton came close to being eliminated in the first part of qualifying, as Ferrari elected to fuel him for only one flying lap in the second part of a session that was disrupted by red flags.
A crash for Alpine’s under-pressure Franco Colapinto at the final corner caused that stoppage and condemned him to the slowest time of the session as de facto team boss Flavio Briatore was pictured on TV with his head in his hands.
“I just lost the car on exit of last corner,” Colapinto said, while apologising to the team. “I just struggled a bit to find the limit in Q1, I was trying to push to close the gap we were lacking. Unfortunately, did a mistake and ended our qualifying there.”
Hamilton lay comfortably inside the top seven after the first runs, but found himself tumbling as the slower cars attempted to escape Q1.
He survived in 14th, just under a tenth and a half clear of the drop zone, which claimed Liam Lawson’s RB, the two Saubers, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and Colapinto’s Alpine.
Lawson was beaten to the crucial 15th spot by a first last-gasp lap of the day from Gasly under extreme pressure, which was enough to lift him from the foot of the times into Q2, as Lawson bemoaned a lack of grip and a huge slide through Stowe that no doubt contributed to his elimination.
Qualifying result
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m24.892s
2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1m24.995s
3 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m25.010s
4 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m25.029s
5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m25.095s
6 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m25.121s
7 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m25.374s
8 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m25.471s
9 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 1m25.621s
10 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m25.785s
11 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 1m25.746s
12 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) 1m25.826s
13 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) 1m25.864s
14 Alex Albon (Williams) 1m25.889s
15 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 1m25.950s
16 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 1m26.440s
17 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) 1m26.446s
18 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m26.504s
19 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) 1m26.574s
20 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 1m27.060s
