Lewis Hamilton will start the sprint race at Silverstone from pole position after narrowly beating Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

The Ferrari driver snatched pole away from Antonelli with a lap time just a hundredth of a second quicker than his rival. Hamilton was quickest across all three stages of qualifying for the sprint race.

Championship leader Antonelli will start three places ahead of his closest rival in the points standings, team mate George Russell. He ended up in the middle of an extremely close five-way fight for third place.

Max Verstappen came out ahead, beating Charles Leclerc by just six thousandths of a second and ensuring three different teams will occupy the top three places on the grid. Russell was a mere four hundredths away from lining up immediately behind his team mate, but had the same margin in hand over the McLaren pair behind him.

Lando Norris was fortunate to reach the top 10 shoot-out as Pierre Gasly came close to eliminating him in SQ2. The two Mercedes-powered cars were separated by less than a tenth of a second.

Isack Hadjar showed strong pace on the medium tyre compound early in the session but faded after switching to softs. He took eighth on the grid ahead of the two Racing Bulls.

Gasly was separated from team mate Franco Colapinto by the two Audi drivers. Williams’ upgrade ensured both their drivers made it through the first round of qualifying, though it was a close thing. Carlos Sainz Jnr beat Oliver Bearman to the final place by just one hundredth of a second. The FW48s ended SQ2 at the bottom of the times, however.

Cadillac’s upgrade showed promise at the track where the team is partly based. Sergio Perez to qualified over a second ahead of the Aston Martins, but he remained seven-tenths of a second away from having a chance to progress.

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SQ1 result

P. # Driver Team Model Time Gap
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari SF-26 1’29.273
2 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF-26 1’29.380 0.107
3 6 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Red Bull-Ford RB22 1’29.470 0.197
4 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes MCL40 1’29.583 0.310
5 63 George Russell Mercedes W17 1’29.675 0.402
6 3 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Red Bull-Ford RB22 1’29.689 0.416
7 12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes W17 1’29.746 0.473
8 30 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Red Bull-Ford 03 1’29.850 0.577
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Audi R26 1’30.107 0.834
10 1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes MCL40 1’30.142 0.869
11 5 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi R26 1’30.407 1.134
12 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes A526 1’30.444 1.171
13 41 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Red Bull-Ford 03 1’30.453 1.180
14 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes FW48 1’30.779 1.506
15 43 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes A526 1’30.894 1.621
16 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Williams-Mercedes FW48 1’31.073 1.800
17 87 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari VF-26 1’31.083 1.810
18 31 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari VF-26 1’31.714 2.441
19 11 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari MAC-26 1’31.776 2.503
20 77 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari MAC-26 1’32.020 2.747
21 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda AMR26 1’32.910 3.637
22 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda AMR26 1’32.988 3.715

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SQ2 result

P. # Driver Team Model Time Gap
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari SF-26 1’28.747
2 12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes W17 1’28.846 0.099
3 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF-26 1’28.922 0.175
4 30 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Red Bull-Ford 03 1’29.067 0.320
5 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes MCL40 1’29.120 0.373
6 3 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Red Bull-Ford RB22 1’29.242 0.495
7 63 George Russell Mercedes W17 1’29.246 0.499
8 6 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Red Bull-Ford RB22 1’29.280 0.533
9 41 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Red Bull-Ford 03 1’29.330 0.583
10 1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes MCL40 1’29.401 0.654
11 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes A526 1’29.482 0.735
12 5 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi R26 1’29.679 0.932
13 27 Nico Hulkenberg Audi R26 1’29.707 0.960
14 43 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes A526 1’29.983 1.236
15 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Williams-Mercedes FW48 1’30.197 1.450
16 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes FW48 1’30.650 1.903

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SQ3 result

P. # Driver Team Model Time Gap
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari SF-26 1’28.376
2 12 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes W17 1’28.387 0.011
3 3 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Red Bull-Ford RB22 1’28.697 0.321
4 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF-26 1’28.703 0.327
5 63 George Russell Mercedes W17 1’28.733 0.357
6 1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes MCL40 1’28.740 0.364
7 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes MCL40 1’28.772 0.396
8 6 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Red Bull-Ford RB22 1’28.835 0.459
9 30 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Red Bull-Ford 03 1’28.927 0.551
10 41 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Red Bull-Ford 03 1’29.367 0.991

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Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine