Carlos Sainz secured his first pole position on Saturday when he overtook world champion Max Verstappen, who survived a spin, in a thrilling rain-hit qualifying for the British Grand Prix.
The 27-year-old Spaniard clocked in treacherous wet conditions in the closing minute of a tense session to beat the Red Bull driver by 0.072 seconds in a best lap of one minute and 40.983 seconds.
His first pole came in Sunday’s race ahead of his 150th Grand Prix start, when he finished very close to the Dutchman in a thrilling encounter at the Canadian Grand Prix.
In a topsy-turvy session that saw a rapid turnaround in the changing conditions, Charles Leclerc was third in a second Ferrari ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez and Mercedes’ seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.
After promising to fight for the front row, it was disappointing for local fans as Hamilton failed to advance his run of eight British front rows.
Lando Norris was sixth for McLaren, ahead of two-time champion Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, George Russell in the second Mercedes, Zhou Guanyu of Alfa Romeo and Nicolas Latifi of Williams.
“I put together a lap that I thought was nothing special, but it was on board how it was – and it was the pole position that was a bit of a surprise!” Sainz said.
“I was struggling a lot with standing water. There was a lot of standing water on the racing line and it was very easy to take a nap and lose a lap. ,
He joked that as a Spaniard he was not used to running in wet British conditions.
Verstappen, who was briefly booed by a section of the crowd, said: “It was difficult – rain and dry, so you had to be on the track at the right time. The car was working well, but it was a lottery.” Was.”
Leclerc, who won six poles this year, said: “I’m happy for Carlos. He’s done a great job. I spin on the last lap, the lap when you need to put everything together – and I didn’t. That’s why I didn’t deserve to be on pole.”
wet and windy
The session began in wet and windy conditions, with enough rain to persuade the teams to run on intermediate wet tyres, with Leclerc rapidly setting the pace for the Ferrari.
An early spin by Valtteri Bottas brought yellow flags for a while, before the incessant rain began to subside and the circuit rapidly dried up.
To the delight of the massive ranks of British fans, Russell was at the top before Verstappen emerged to demonstrate his current dominance in all conditions.
The inaugural season ended with another nightmare for the Silverstone-based Aston Martin team, whose headquarters are just a short walk from the circuit.
Both four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, 18th, and Lance Stroll, 20th, were eliminated in their heavily-modified Williams with two Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen, 17th and Mick Schumacher 19th and 16th placed Alex Albon. was given.
At the top, Verstappen led the way ahead of Leclerc and Russell.
Rain continued into the second quarter and vision became difficult with high plumes of spray as Hamilton struggled.
Briefly, Chinese driver Zhou went on top for Alfa Romeo before Alonso, Perez and the Red Bulls established a normal order and Hamilton came in second.
This caught Nicolas Latifi in 10th place and a potential appearance in a top ten shootout for Williams, equaling his previous best at last year’s wet Belgian Grand Prix, where he was placed ninth.
Verstappen was then again ahead of Leclerc, Russell, Sainz and Hamilton, who had been trying to add to his haul of seven Silverstone poles and five over the past eight years.
As Q3 began, the rain subsided with a warning that it would return, but the track remained slippery – proved when Verstappen turned around and recovered at Hangar Strait to gasp from the crowd.
With six minutes remaining, Alonso went on top to be quickly grabbed by Leclerc and then Verstappen, while Hamilton moved up to second as the track began to dry up with three minutes remaining.
This set off a thrilling finish as drivers took advantage of conditions with a ‘late possible’ lap to delay – a scenario that Sainz enjoyed with a pole-grabbing finish.
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