British Gp -Risk of Rain 100%. Umbrellas unfurling, drivers getting ready… the air temperature is 17 degrees Celsius, while the track temperature is 25 degrees Celsius. The British drivers in the field this week are Hamilton, Russell, and Norris.
All three have been greeted by cheers and applause from their home crowd this weekend, but surely the loudest cheer of the weekend so far would be if one of them could put it on the pole. With rain in the air, they have a chance.
Q1 – British Gp
Latifi leads out many of the drivers, in what might be the best conditions that the drivers will get during Q1. The Mercedes is coming out now, as Russell follows Hamilton, followed by Redbulls. Everyone is out except Alpines.
Times are beginning to tumble as Albon goes into third, with Latifi in seventh. Magnussen and Schumacher are in fourth and fifth respectively, as Leclerc leads Verstappen at the front. Verstappen goes fastest ahead of Leclerc, as Sainz goes third for Ferrari to bump Perez down to P4. Is a drier line emerging?
The track is drying quite quickly, so the drivers are having to go offline to cool down their intermediate tires. Verstappen has gone back to the top and now leads Hamilton by around half a second in the final part of British Gp Qualifying.
Eliminated in Q1: Albon, Magnussen, Vettel, Schumacher, Stroll
Q2 in British Gp
Light rain is set to continue in Q2 and Q3. Latifi leads Zhou as we get started in Q2. The rain is still falling but not as heavily as it was early in Q1. Leclerc and Verstappen are now leaving their garages.
All the drivers are now out on track, and the first times are beginning to come through. Russell is now complaining of having no grip, as Perez goes to the top of the timesheets, but Verstappen has gone purple in the first two sectors.
Verstappen has just gone a second faster than his teammate, as he sets the fastest lap. Zhou manages to pip Hamilton to P3. Norris comes round the final corner and goes second, which is greeted by loud applause from the Silverstone crowd.
The rain is getting heavier and Nobody is improving as the track continues to get wetter. This could mean Latifi, who is in P10, could well make it into Q3. Meanwhile, replays show Verstappen going off at Chapel in the final stages of Q2 in British Gp.
ELIMINATED IN Q2: Gasly, Bottas, Tsunoda, Ricciardo, Ocon
Q3 – British Gp
Conditions have got much worse, with the rain still falling. It will be interesting to see whether the drivers come out on the intermediate tires – or the extreme wets. It’s a six-way battle for the pole and everyone is on inters.
Sainz improves but his time is only good enough for eighth. However, Leclerc goes up to second, 0.250s behind Verstappen. How long will he last in P2?. Sainz goes into a provisional pole, but Verstappen is going faster. He goes around the final few corners, but can he beat the Ferrari driver? No, his time is only good enough for second, which means Sainz clinches his first-ever pole.
5th and 8th for Lewis and Russel in Mercedes and they are disappointed. Lewis Hamilton: “Thank you guys, great effort everyone. We had a good pace there, didn’t get what we deserved but, we push hard tomorrow.
