Hamilton will ‘bring out the lion’ in “all guns blazing” approach to F1 sprint

Hamilton, who comes into this weekend’s British Grand Prix trailing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 32 points in the championship, beat his main title rival to take pole position for the new sprint qualifying race.

There are three world championship points on offer for the winner of Saturday afternoon’s 17-lap sprint race, which will will decide the starting order for Sunday’s grand prix.

Asked how he will approach the race, Hamilton replied: “With my head up and just all guns blazing.

“I need to bring out the lion tomorrow and give it everything. It starts with the start, so we’ll be practising that.

“Passing the Red Bull is not easy, so it really helps to be where we are. But we’ve got to get it off the line, and we’ve still got so many things and obstacles ahead of us.

“But the sprint race is going to be an interesting one. I think I’ve got the car where I need it, so we’ll see.”

While there is a general consensus in the paddock that many drivers will opt for a conservative approach, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has predicted that things could get “feisty”.

“I think racing drivers, they just go when the lights are green, and hopefully not risking a lot,” he explained.

“It would be a shame if one of the frontrunners would not start where they should start on Sunday. But if it gets feisty, it gets feisty.”

F1’s first-ever sprint race gets underway at 4.30pm local time at Silverstone.