@Max33Verstappen wins qualifying sprint to claim pole position. #F1 #BritishGP

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the first-ever qualifying sprint to take position for the British GP at Silverstone ahead of Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

With the grid set by traditional qualifying, which took place on Friday evening, the 100km sprint race decided the grid order for today’s British Grand Prix.

Verstappen beat Hamilton off the line and defended two attacks from his championship rival on lap one. Verstappen’s victory officially gave him the title of pole position for today’s Grand Prix.

When the 17-lap Qualifying Sprint Race began, although his brakes caught fire on the starting grid, Verstappen outdragged pole-sitter Hamilton on the run-down into the first corner. Hamilton got alongside the Dutchman into Brooklands and Copse on the opening tour, but Verstappen kept him at bay both times.

From third on the grid, Bottas started on the C3 red side-walled softer compound, unlike most who were on the mediums, along with Alpine pairing Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, also Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen. Alonso used the extra grip to his advantage to jump from 11th to fifth, after a brilliant series of opening corners, to run behind Bottas’ Mercedes and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

The second Honda-powered RB16B Red Bull of Sergio Perez lost track position to both McLaren’s but re-overtook Daniel Ricciardo on the first lap. Further back, Williams Racing’s George Russell and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz tangled at Brooklands, sending the Spaniard down to 18th – whilst Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin hit team-mate Mick Schumacher and spun out.

Verstappen moved out of DRS range from Hamilton out-front, but his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez spun off at Becketts on the fifth lap, as the Mexican fell to 19th.

McLaren’s Lando Norris passed Alonso for fifth place on the sixth tour at Village, whilst Ricciardo followed suit at The Loop four laps later.

Verstappen cruised to take the qualifying sprint race victory and pole by 1.430 seconds over Hamilton, with Bottas a distant third in-front of Leclerc, Norris and Ricciardo who rounded out the top five. Alonso fell back into a chasing Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel, but the German could not find a way through. Russell and Ocon completed the top ten.

Sainz recovered well to finish 11th and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who was 12th, and Alfa’s Kimi Raikkonen 13th.

The other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll took 14th and in-front of Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi who ended the sprint 15th and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in 16th.

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi finished 17th and ahead of Haas F1 Team pairing Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin who brought up the rear.

While Perez retired from 18th at the beginning of the final tour.

After the sprint, Russell was hit with a three-placed grid penalty for his tangle with Sainz and will start 12th.

You can read the full Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2021 Qualifying Sprint Race Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1072/great-britain/sprint-qualifying-results.html

The Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2021 Starting Grid

Note – Russell penalised three grid places for causing a collision during sprint qualifying.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1072/great-britain/starting-grid.html

Click here for the updated points standings (World Driver’s Championship Top 10).

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