Max Verstappen dashed the hopes of many Lando Norris fans in the crowd at the Silverstone Circuit on Saturday (July 8). At the very end of qualifying, Verstappen set a lap at 151.979 mph to win the pole for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
The results were not a surprise. Verstappen, going for his third consecutive championship is in the middle of a dominant season, after all. So the Dutchman scoring his 27th career pole and fifth in a row was in fact a bit predictable.
It still stung, however, for the average Britain on-hand to watch Norris come so close.
“I was close, you know?” Norris said following the event, as fans cheered for one of their home country heroes. “Cheers, everyone. I was P1 in Q1, P1 in Q2 I think, and close. Two-tenths [of a second].to P1 in Q3. Pretty insane. My last lap was a good lap. I could hear Zak [Brown, CEO of McLaren] over the radio, which is the best thing ever.”
Norris led a McLaren charge. Sporting the chrome liveries made famous by a young Lewis Hamilton back in 2007 and 2008, both Norris and rookie teammate Oscar Piastri put monster laps on the board. Norris took the provisional pole while Verstappen had a yellow (meaning not personal best) second sector on the racetrack, while Piastri was up to third.
It was not to be. Verstappen put in an incredible third sector and took pole. McLaren was able to make a giant leap and qualify second and third, but was also left wondering what if.
Still, however, Norris couldn’t help but be a bit cheeky in defeat.
“Eh, it’s always Max, he always ruins everything for everyone.” Norris said with a grin.
Q3
Although qualifying was largely in dry conditions, this was the only round that the FIA activated DRS.
5. Carlos Sainz
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Alex Albon
10. Pierre Gasly
Q2
There were no incidents or stall-outs in this session. Valtteri Bottas did not participate in the session after advancing to it but having a mechanical problem in the previous session.
11. Nico Hulkenberg
12. Lance Stroll
13. Esteban Ocon
14. Logan Sargeant
15. Bottas
Q1
The track began in between intermediate and dry conditions, then moving to dry after a few minutes. The session ended with rain looming in the closing minutes, but it didn’t come.
With 3:11 remaining in the round, Kevin Magnussen’s Haas shut off right before the pit road entry right before the Vale Chicane and stalled out in the middle of the racetrack, requiring a red flag. Magnussen was outside of the top 15 regardless and was eliminated at the end of the round.
On the final lap, Bottas stalled out after turn 7 in the Luffield section and could not continue in qualifying.
16. Sergio Perez
17. Yuki Tsunoda
18. Zhou Guanyu
19. Nyck de Vries
20. Magnussen
F1 Britain Qualifying Results
The 74th annual British Grand Prix will go lights out on Sunday, July 9th, at 10 a.m. ET with coverage on ESPN.
About the author
Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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