Russell overpowers Hamilton and Norris to claim pole for British Grand Prix

George Russell edged his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to secure pole position for the British Grand Prix as Lando Norris locked out an all-Brit front row.

George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris stormed to the top of the timesheets in a wet British Grand Prix qualifying session, as championship leader Max Verstappen struggled to finish a disappointing fourth.

The session was hit by further downpour after a wet FP3 prompting the F2 support race to be red-flagged and cut short. Fortunately, conditions eventually improved at Silverstone with the sun appearing and the track started to dry out as the cars headed out for the first round of British Grand Prix qualifying.

However, drivers encountered very difficult conditions in Q1 as the track was still damp when the session started, which prompted them to start their runs on Pirelli’s intermediates.

The wet conditions soon claimed the first victim as Sergio Perez skidded off the track and found himself stuck in the gravel. The Red Bull driver was unable to rejoin the track and the session was red-flagged so that the marooned RB20 could be recovered.

When the session restarted, drivers headed back on to the circuit, but this time on slick tyres. With the rain clouds having gathered over the circuit, everyone was in a hurry to get at least a soft-tyre quick lap, as majority completed three quick laps while conditions held up.

Unfortunately, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly faced the brunt of elimination after Q1.

In Q2, The track had already dried out as conditions further improved for after the rain subsided at Silverstone.

But the session turned out to be disappointing for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as he found himself in the elimination zone of Q2 to finish P11. The Monegasque went wide into the fast turn of Chapel which compromised his exit onto the long Hangar straight.

Leclerc, Logan Sargeant, Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and Daniel Ricciardo failed to advance past Q2.

Q3 saw Mercedes dominate as George Russell emerged as the fastest, setting the benchmark with a 125.819s to secure his second pole position of the season. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton finished P2 with McLaren’s Lando Norris taking third for Sunday’s race.

Max Verstappen suffered understeer all through the final qualifying segment and ended up only fourth fastest. Oscar Piastri will line up fifth tomorrow and he will be joined by Nico Hulkenberg on the third row as the Haas driver delivered an impressive performance.

Ferrari suffered another setback in the last qualifying segment as Carlos Sainz secured a disappointing seventh place, seven tenths of a second behind the benchmark.

Aston Martin impressed as Lance Stroll claimed P8 while teammate Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten with Williams Alexander Albon splitting the two in ninth.

2024 F1 British Grand Prix Qualifying Results