Max Verstappen secured pole for the British Grand Prix ahead of a surprise McLaren two-three led by Lando Norris.
The qualifying hour started in the damp, but grip ramped up rapidly as the sun broke through the clouds and dried the track into its optimum window by Q3.
The tricky conditions caught out Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, in Q1, delivering him his third bottom-five elimination of the season in another body blow to the Mexican’s campaign.
But what had been a randomized session swung back to a conventional pole shootout, and Verstappen came to the fore with the fastest lap of the weekend to seal his fifth successive P1 start and seventh for the season with a 0.241s margin.
“It’s been quite a crazy qualifying,” he said. “It’s been quite hectic and also quite slippery in some places.
“Knowing we have a quick car, you don’t need to go to 100 percent the limit. That’s why in Q3, when we go for it, we eked out the gap a little bit.”
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It wasn’t the cruisy qualifying session Verstappen has enjoyed at previous rounds, with the Dutchman having to push for a second lap after losing provisional pole halfway through Q3 to Norris.
Conditions were perfect for the MCL60, which has shown a preference for cool conditions given how quickly it fires up its tires.
McLaren has also brought its season-defining Austria upgrade to both cars this weekend as well as some extra new parts for Norris’s car as part of its multi-race plan to overhaul the car.
“It makes up for everything, all the hard work that we’ve been putting in,” he said. “Home race for the team, for myself — we couldn’t have had a better result today — apart from Max!”
Piastri, who was 0.131s further back, also praised the team for its work revising the car to haul it up the order.
“To pull it off in Q3 like that is a mega result,” he said. “I can’t thank the team enough for continuing to push.”
Ferrari prevailed in a super-tight battle with Mercedes to a spot on the second row. Charles Leclerc beat Carlos Sainz to fourth, and George Russell beat Lewis Hamilton to sixth, but the quartet was spread over just 0.075s.
Alex Albon turned his Williams car’s excellent pace this weekend into a meritorious eighth on the grid ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
Nico Hulkenberg was knocked out 11th ahead of Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon, the latter tow having tangled setting up their final laps.
Ocon attempted to cut past Stroll into the Vale chicane but locked up and went wide, badly compromising the start of the following tour.
Logan Sargeant was furious to be eliminated 14th on such a fast afternoon for Williams after being fouled for exceeding track limits at Copse.
Valtteri Bottas didn’t set a Q2 time after his Alfa Romeo switched itself off on track at the end of the previous qualifying segment
Perez will start a demoralizing 16th after a frenetic final three minutes of Q3 jumbled up the qualifying order.
Kevin Magnussen’s Haas stopped on track at the pit entrance with a spontaneous system shutdown, triggering a red flag. While the marshals rescued his car, the previously damp and greasy track began to dry, forcing the 19 remaining drivers back on track for what would be one lap apiece.
The number of circulating cars rapidly ramped up track grip, but Perez was first out of pit lane. His sole lap put him at the top of the order, but by the time the other cars had set their lap, he’d tumbled catastrophically to 16th, missing out by just 0.019s.
There was more time to be had for Perez, though, given Albon right behind him made it through comfortably. It’s the third time he’s been knocked out in Q1 this year and sixth time he’s failed to make the top-10 shootout.
Yuki Tsunoda will start 17th ahead of Zhou Guanyu, Nyck de Vries and the stricken Magnussen.
