Qualifying report
Formula 1 British GP
British GP: Hamilton storms to pole as Mercedes dominates
Lewis Hamilton recovered from a red flag-causing spin to beat his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to pole position for Formula 1's 2020 British Grand Prix.
Alex Kalinauckas
Edited: Aug 1, 2020, 2:36 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Max Verstappen will start third for Red Bull, while Nico Hulkenberg was knocked out in Q2 – as was Alex Albon for the second race in a row – on his F1 qualifying return in place of Sergio Perez at Racing Point.
Hamilton spun his Mercedes at the exit of Luffield on his first run on medium tyres in Q2, scattering gravel across the track, which caused the middle segment of qualifying to be suspended.
The world champion rejoined on the same medium rubber – which he, Bottas, Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll will start the race on – but ended up behind his teammate as Q2 ended.
But Hamilton hit back immediately with a 1m24.616s on the first runs in Q3, with Bottas trailing by 0.150s and Verstappen over a second adrift in third.
Bottas then set an identical time on the final runs, but Hamilton had already moved a further 0.313s clear with a 1m24.303s to seal his seventh F1 pole at Silverstone.
Verstappen improved his personal best but stayed third, still over a second behind Hamilton.
Leclerc finished as the lead Ferrari in fourth, ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris and Lance Stroll, who did not improve on his final run in Q3.
Carlos Sainz took seventh ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon, with Sebastian Vettel rounding out the top 10.
Vettel will start on softs as he did not improve his best time in Q3 after switching to the more-durable mediums.
Leclerc, Stroll and Ricciardo are under investigation for a pitlane incident at the start of Q3 where the Ferrari was released into the path of the Racing Point, which braked hard and Ricciardo nipped by on the inside.
Pierre Gasly just missed out on a second consecutive Q3 appearance as he set an identical time to Stroll – a 1m26.501s – in the final seconds of Q3, but because the Racing Point's time came from his first run on the medium tyres before the red flag the AlphaTauri ended up 11th and out.
Albon took 12th as he was knocked out in Q2 for the second race in a row, which followed his FP2 crash and missing most of final practice to an electrical problem, which required Red Bull to fit a new energy store on his RB16.
He set a personal best time after switching from the mediums to softs for his final run but could not do enough to break into the top 10.
Nico Hulkenberg will start his F1 race return from 13th as like Albon he could not gain enough after switching from the mediums to the softs for his final Q2 run.
Daniil Kvyat finished 14th but will drop five places on the grid for taking a new gearbox, while George Russell again reached Q2 but faces a post-qualifying investigation (at 3.30pm local time) for failing to slow for yellow flags in Q1.
In Q1, Magnussen ended up 16th as he could not find a way to break into the 1m26 barrier, with Alfa Romeo pair Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen lining up behind him on the grid.
Romain Grosjean ended up P19 in the second Haas, but he lost his best lap of Q1 (which was topped by Bottas), a 1m27.317s for a track limits infringement at Copse.
Nicholas Latifi finished last in Q1 after spinning his Williams on his final flying lap.
Russell came across the incident at the exit of Luffield shortly after Latifi had lost the rear of his FW43 as he accelerated away from the long-speed, slow right-hander and gone backwards into the gravel on the outside.
Russell said over his team radio that he "definitely backed off" and he was "well in control".
Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap 1 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 1'24.303 2 Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 1'24.616 0.313 3 Max Verstappen
Red Bull 1'25.325 1.022 4 Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 1'25.427 1.124 5 Lando Norris
McLaren 1'25.782 1.479 6 Lance Stroll
Racing Point 1'25.839 1.536 7 Carlos Sainz Jr.
McLaren 1'25.965 1.662 8 Daniel Ricciardo
Renault 1'26.009 1.706 9 Esteban Ocon
Renault 1'26.209 1.906 10 Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari 1'26.339 2.036 11 Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 1'26.501 2.198 12 Alex Albon
Red Bull 1'26.545 2.242 13 Nico Hulkenberg
Racing Point 1'26.566 2.263 14 George Russell
Williams 1'27.092 2.789 15 Kevin Magnussen
Haas 1'27.158 2.855 16 Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 1'27.164 2.861 17 Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 1'27.366 3.063 18 Romain Grosjean
Haas 1'27.643 3.340 19 Daniil Kvyat
AlphaTauri 1'26.744 2.441 20 Nicholas Latifi
Williams 1'27.705 3.402 View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article British GP qualifying as it happened
Next article Hamilton says he was "struggling" before grabbing pole
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Alex Kalinauckas
Who is Kimi Antonelli, F1 sprint polesitter at just 18?
Formula 1
Formula 1 May 3, 2025
Who is Kimi Antonelli, F1 sprint polesitter at just 18?
Why Bottas has the edge over Perez in 2026 F1 return race
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Apr 2, 2025
Why Bottas has the edge over Perez in 2026 F1 return race
What if Red Bull solved its second-car problem with a paint job?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Apr 1, 2025
What if Red Bull solved its second-car problem with a paint job?
Latest news
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 54 min
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 1 h
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
1 h
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe