George Russell beats Lewis Hamilton to Silverstone pole with British 1-2-3
George Russell leads Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton for all-British front-row in qualifying at Silverstone.
George Russell beat teammate Lewis Hamilton to pole position at the F1 British Grand Prix as Mercedes locked out the front-row of the grid in qualifying.
Russell had provisional pole after the first runs of Q3 but seven-time world champion Hamilton briefly snatched P1 away from his teammate, only for Russell to reclaim it by 0.171s with his final effort right at the end of qualifying.
"What a feeling! At the start of this year we couldn't have dreamt of being on pole here," said Russell.
"One-two for me and Lewis, Lando P3. Just mega. It's down to all these fans as well. They give us so much energy. The car at the moment is feeling so good. It really came alive in qualy. What a joy to drive around this circuit.
"We are riding this wave at the moment. Absolutely buzzing. But eyes on tomorrow. We have a race to win. It will be tight with Lando and Max will be fast as well. I'm so excited right now."
Lando Norris was 0.211s adrift in third for McLaren to make it a British 1-2-3, while Max Verstappen was over three-tenths off the pace and had to settle with fourth after damaging the floor of his Red Bull during a trip through the gravel.
Nico Hulkenberg was a brilliant sixth for Haas, ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Williams driver Alex Albon, who also impressed.
Fernando Alonso completed the top-10 for Aston Martin.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc suffered a shock elimination with only the 11th-quickest time after being pipped to a spot in the top-10 by Stroll.
Logan Sargeant was a strong 12th for Williams but was unable to join his teammate in the final part of qualifying.
Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were 13th and 15th respectively, with Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu sandwiched inbetween the RB pair.
Valtteri Bottas was only 16th-fastest for Sauber, ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Meanwhile, Sergio Perez’s nightmare run of form continued as he beached his Red Bull in the gravel at Copse after spinning on his outlap, having switched on to slick tyres as the track dried out in Q1.
It leaves the under-pressure Mexican 19th on the grid for Sunday’s British Grand Prix and ahead of only Pierre Gasly, who was the slowest driver in qualifying but was facing a grid drop anyway after Alpine fitted his car with a new engine.
