In the end, less than a quarter of a second separated the top six in a closely-fought British Grand Prix qualifying session.
The margins were close but the key winners and losers were clear:
Winner: Max Verstappen - 1st
This is exactly why Red Bull wants to keep hold of Verstappen so badly and why Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is willing to keep in-form George Russell waiting for a new contract.
Having complained about the balance of his RB21 all through practice and the early stages of qualifying, Verstappen hooked things up when it mattered most and 'stole' another 2025 pole position from the McLaren drivers.
It remains to be seen whether Verstappen can repeat his Suzuka and Imola victories - it will likely be tougher at Silverstone - but he's given himself the best possible chance of doing so with another Q3 special. - Josh Suttill
Loser: Ferrari - 5th, 6th
For Lewis Hamilton it was low-speed understeer he describes as "inherent to this car" which held Ferrari back. For Charles Leclerc it is "not a balance issue, not a grip issue, but something very weird" - that he also wasn't prepared to explain - that only rears its head sometimes and tends to make the final stages of qualifying more difficult than they should be.
Ferrari certainly looked more wayward in qualifying than it did in practice. Only during the final stages of Q2, when both drivers made an extra run compared to the other top cars, did Leclerc and Hamilton reach the top of the timesheet.
Hamilton's first Q3 run suggested he might just about be in the pole fight, as he squeaked ahead of both Norris and Verstappen, but that final lap just wasn't there - even without that slightly lurid slide coming out of Club.
This was still overall a very respectable Ferrari qualifying performance in the context of the season so far, but after showing such promise through practice it has to feel a little underwhelming to see both cars on row three of the grid - and beaten by George Russell's Mercedes too. - Ben Anderson
Winner: George Russell - 4th
This is not the first time 'Mr Saturday' has pulled a lap out of the bag when it really counts, but at no stage until the final runs of Q3 did Russell look a threat for a top-four spot on the grid.
On Friday he was seven tenths off the pace and behind some midfield cars, FP3 was a similar story, and through Q1 and Q2 he was trailing rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli.
To get 0.345s on Antonelli in Q3 and beat both Ferraris looked like outstanding work.
It's tempting to think the cooler conditions of Saturday played their part, but Russell suggested the picture is more complicated given the extreme loads going through the tyres on such a high-speed circuit.
After joking that Mercedes "arranged for those clouds to come in and that made us go about five tenths faster", he pointed out "the tyres are running hotter here compared to what they're running in Canada [where Russell won from pole]. And Canada was 50°C track [temp], here it's 25°C track".
So even an overcast Sunday won't guarantee the lead Mercedes has a shot at the podium. - BA
Loser: McLaren - 2nd, 3rd
Both McLaren drivers will probably feel they could and should have taken pole here, but Lando Norris never looked as tidy through the slow-speed sections as Oscar Piastri, and neither had an answer to the incredible speed Verstappen could carry through Maggotts/Becketts and onto Hangar Straight.
Verstappen, running less downforce than the McLarens as Red Bull battled to overcome understeer present in the car since the earliest laps on Friday, was clearly faster on the straights, and impressed Piastri and Norris with the speed he could maintain through the corners despite this lack of load.
Overall, it turned out to be the better compromise, and it's doubtful even with completely clean Q3 laps that Norris or Piastri could have beaten Verstappen to pole. And what's more, both are slightly concerned that Verstappen's straightline speed advantage could make him difficult to overcome in Sunday's race too. - BA
Loser: Franco Colapinto - 20th
Considering the suggestions that Alpine is eyeing up Valtteri Bottas for its second F1 seat, a Q1 exit at Silverstone was never going to reflect well on Colapinto.
But a Q1 exit after crashing right before the end of the lap? That's downright disastrous.
Colapinto claimed "I just lost the rear in the last one going on power". That's not an unusual problem at Club. The trouble was he kept his foot in; that was unnecessary and ultimately resulted in him spinning into the gravel.
And even if this was a marginal Q2 car - as the Alpine has looked at best at Silverstone - Colapinto's error looks even more painful when held up against another Q3 miracle from team-mate Pierre Gasly.
It's beginning to feel like the writing's on the wall. - Jack Cozens
Winner: Pierre Gasly - 10th
That's a seventh Q3 appearance in 12 races for Gasly in an Alpine that's looked like proper Q1 fodder in every session at the British GP. Gasly admitted as much after qualifying, saying "the car wasn't very kind throughout" the weekend up to this point.
Whether he can stay there (in eighth, once penalties are applied) is another matter, considering Alpine's power deficit and its general Sunday struggles.
But if Alpine's having some doubts about whether Gasly's getting the most out of this package, well...this level of overachievement goes a long way towards dispelling them. - JC
Loser: Ollie Bearman - 8th
"F***ing idiot, my brakes are cold."
There was a double sense of regret in Ollie Bearman's voice as he came over the Haas team radio after pranging the barriers in the pit entry under red flags at the end of FP3, as though he immediately knew he was in trouble with the FIA.
Bearman was bang to rights in terms of the 10-place grid drop he was given and can have no complaints about the penalty points he was handed either.
But what he'll likely feel most disappointed about is that it came on a day where he was not just head and shoulders clear of team-mate Esteban Ocon but was the class of the midfield on one-lap pace, too.
Those days have been hard to come by lately for Haas in the fight for fifth in the constructors' championship. Bearman's got a lot to do on Sunday if he's to avoid squandering the team's best chance to take proper points off its rivals in more than a month. - JC
Winner: Fernando Alonso - 9th
After a peculiar start to the season in the Fernando Alonso-Lance Stroll head-to-head, you can't help but feel that normal order's been restored now.
As Stroll sunk to another Q1 exit (after another strong Friday), Alonso sailed through. His initial Q1 lap was eyebrow-raising and a fifth Q3 appearance in six race weekends shows how well he's getting on with the Aston Martin, which seems to be more competitive with every upgrade.
That might sound as though it should be a given, but it wasn't so long ago that the team's update strategy was best described as scattergun.
Those days look well behind Aston Martin; instead, Alonso's got more ammunition to go sniping for points with in a bid to hoist himself and Aston Martin up the standings. - JC
Loser: Sauber - 17th, 19th
Having outscored even Red Bull over the past three race weekends, Sauber was brought crashing back down to earth with a double Q1 exit for Gabriel Bortoleto - back on an older spec floor following his FP3 crash - and Nico Hulkenberg.
Neither delivered a perfect lap, but both drivers were surprised at the Sauber C45's lack of pace here, which made making it to Q2 a big challenge.
Hulkenberg still got points from last on the grid at the Austrian GP, but it doesn't look like the Sauber has the pace to properly recover this time. - JS
Loser: Liam Lawson - 16th
The worst possible follow-up to scoring your best-ever F1 result is an anonymous Q1 exit where you're just short of three tenths slower than your team-mate.
That's exactly the fate that befell Lawson, who was mystified that he started his final lap with "zero grip".
He made a mistake at Stowe that cost him a place in Q2 but Racing Bulls expected more from qualifying after a strong showing in practice.
Team-mate Isack Hadjar was 13th, marking the first time the team has failed to get a car into Q3 since Miami. - JS
