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Formula 1 British GP

F1 British GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying

Updates for Saturday practice and qualifying at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone

By: Haydn Cobb, Lewis Duncan, Stefan Mackley

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Summary
  • F1 British GP qualifying takes place in wet conditions
  • Sainz secures first F1 pole ahead of 150th start
  • Verstappen second and Leclerc third after both spin in Q3
Leaderboard
  1. Sainz, Ferrari
  2. Verstappen, Red Bull
  3. Leclerc, Ferrari
  4. Perez, Red Bull
  5. Hamilton, Mercedes
  6. Norris, McLaren
  7. Alonso, Alpine
  8. Russell, Mercedes
  9. Zhou, Alfa Romeo
  10. Latifi, Williams
Checkered flag
Well, that was fun, and do you know what? There's more to come tomorrow! The British GP starts at 3pm BST on Sunday, so be sure to join us ahead of the race for all the build-up to the main event! Until then, have a lovely Saturday!
Breaking news

Need a recap on that exciting British GP qualifying? Say no more: 

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-british-gp-qualifying-report/10331778/

Sainz receives his pole position mini tyre trophy from Nigel Mansell, who looks even happier at the result than the Spaniard. Lovely stuff!
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Leclerc on his third place: "I'm happy for Carlos, he did a great job today. I spun on the last lap, the lap when you need to put everything together and I didn't, so I didn't deserve to be on pole."
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Verstappen, to a murmur of boos among the cheers, on his second place: "It was tricky, raining and drying, so you had to be on the track at the right time. The car was working well. It was a bit of a lottery."

Sainz on his pole lap: "I put together a lap that I thought was nothing special, but it was on the board to see how it was, and it was pole position which came as a bit of a surprise"
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Sainz on his first F1 pole: "I was struggling a lot with the standing water on the intermediates, there was a lot more standing water on the racing line and it was very easy to have snaps and lose the lap."
Sainz will be joined on the front row for the British GP by Verstappen, with Leclerc still third despite his late spin. Perez takes fourth ahead of Hamilton, Norris, Alonso, Russell, Zhou and Latifi.
Sainz, on his 150th F1 start, takes pole by 0.072s, but he sounds the most surprised about it: "That felt terrible!" What a thriller of a session.
Checkered flag
Verstappen doesn't improve and stays second - so Sainz has pole position for the first time in his F1 career!
Leclerc has spun, so his hopes of pole are over!
Stopwatch
Sainz goes fastest with a 1m40.983s!
Norris into third, Perez into fourth and Alonso into fifth as he just beats taking the chequered flag.
Stopwatch
Now it is a Ferrari 1-2, only for Verstappen to beat them both to regain provisional pole with a 1m41.055s!
Alonso keeps him name in the hat as he goes third fastest. It is final lap time and they all want to start this lap as late as possible to get the best of the conditions.
Hamilton responds and regains second place just 0.027s off Verstappen!
Stopwatch
Into the final three minutes of qualifying and really it is all to play for, as Leclerc moves up to second place - 0.250s off Verstappen's provisional pole time.
The Brits are on the charge! Hamilton goes second, Russell third and Norris fourth!
Stopwatch
Verstappen now goes top with a 1m42.996s - some 1.8s faster than Leclerc.
Verstappen ran off track at the Vale chicane but he still completes the lap to go second overall. Elsewhere Latifi has spun at Abbey.
Stopwatch
Leclerc goes quickest ahead of Sainz for a Ferrari 1-2 as things stand.
Stopwatch
Alonso on provisional pole! He puts in a 1m46.227s - 3.2s faster than the next nearest which is Zhou! Woah.
...but Verstappen spins! He goes around for a full 360 and then gets going again without much trouble but that has wrecked his lap.
First lap times are coming up, with Verstappen flying out there...
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"Rain in five minutes, but the reality is we are not going to know when the track will be at its best," Norris is told over team radio. It will be all down to the drivers and their feeling on the track.
All 10 drivers are on the track to get a feel for the conditions. Sainz is told a possible shower will arrive at the end of Q3, so it could be now or never!
Green flag
Sainz sits at the front of the queue at pitlane exit as the rain appears to be easing. Here we go.
Right then, time to decide the order for the top half of the grid. Who is your money on?
Zhou also deserves credit for making it into Q3 for the second straight event. The F1 rookie is really finding his feet in the series.
Given Latifi has been through it over the last few months, that's a really encouraging result for the Canadian. Good job.