Bottas pips Hamilton for pole position

F1 Grand Prix, GP Great-Britain, Silverstone Circuit

Valtteri Bottas took the first slot on the grid in an entertaining session of the Great Britain Qualifying at Silverstone. Home favorite Lewis Hamilton had to allow 6 thousandths between the 2 Mercedes cars, while Charles Leclerc follows very closely in third.

Track conditions were a lot cooler then they were in Austria, with clouds hanging over the track and somewhat windy conditions. Q1 did not show a lot of surprises, although the exit of Kevin Magnussen was peculiar. Williams unfortunately could not do an inspired ride for the home crowd and ended up last again. On the front, Hamilton got the top spot by 2 hundredths despite Leclerc setting purple in the first 2 sectors. The last sector will be one that haunts Ferrari throughout qualifying.

In the second session, the Mercedes team initially put itself in first and second. However, the driver in form Leclerc decided to do something about that and put himself on top of the sheets by 2 tenths, although Bottas dwindled that back down to 2 hundredths later on. Meanwhile, Gasly confirmed his surprising form of free practice to stay ahead of Verstappen, although the Dutchman did a second run to assert his dominance. The top teams did the usual Q2 run on the medium tyres, with the notable exception of Vettel, who made a half-hearted attempt on used softs, which only got him as far as 8th initially. His second run proved good enough to stay in Q3, but having run his best lap on a new set of softs, he will have that set to start the race, just like Leclerc who surprisingly did also another run, also on new soft tyres. Ferrari is definitely eyeing a different strategy than Red Bull and Mercedes. McLaren looked set to get both cars again in Q3, but Sainz got ousted at the last moment in favour of Albon, who sensationally got his Toro Rosso into the final session.

The final part of qualifying kicked off quickly with most cars immediately going out. Hamilton had a moment in the 2d sector, costing him a bit of time and allowing Bottas getting the better of him for the first run. Ferrari was unable to confirm their competitiveness when it counted, although they did the first run on used softs. Norris and Albon opted for a single run in the interbellum. Both did respectfully but ended up rather on the back.

With the final mad dash for the top spots, Hamilton kept it clean in the second sector. However, he was unable to improve just enough, ending up 6 thousandths behind despite Bottas failing to improve. Meanwhile Leclerc was preparing to shock Great Britain further by setting the best times in first and second sectors, however, he lost too much in the final sector. Strong performance overall for Red Bull as well, with Verstappen and Gasly in front of a disappointed Vettel.