16:47
To P7 for Piastri. And Norris is only P9! He will not get another time and is far from safe!
Antonelli at Silverstone
© XPB Images
F1 Silverstone Saturday sprint race and qualifying as it happened
Live coverage of Saturday at the F1 British Grand Prix
KEY MOMENTS
- Drivers divided over Lego parade lap
- Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren bring upgrades; Mercedes does not
- Antonelli wins sprint race from Hamilton
The ninth round of the 2026 Formula 1 season takes place at the British Grand Prix.
Silverstone hosted the first official F1 Grand Prix in 1950 and continues to be a firm favourite of both drivers and fans in the modern era.
On Thursday, drivers were vocal in their concerns about how energy-starved the layout could be, with few heavy braking zones to recover energy into the batteries. However, when the action got underway on Friday, the issue was far less intrusive than had been feared.
A bizarre dispute is also taking place in regard to Sunday's parade lap, which will take place in Lego go-karts, with each driver having their own vehicle. Whilst some are all for it and are eager to get going, such as Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas, there are others who are less excited about the prospect, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both voicing concern, and the former suggesting he does not intend to take part.
Fresh off the back of his victory at the Red Bull Ring, George Russell is keen to add to his points haul with a first win on home soil, but starts the Sprint Race from fifth place after a disappointing qualifying.
Hamilton started the sprint race from pole position but lost out to Antonelli, who made a mid-race pass into Stowe. In qualifying, the pair had been split by 0.011s, with the tight margins setting up qualifying nicely.
The weekend sees the return of the Sprint Race format, meaning that a single practice session will take place before Sprint Qualifying on Friday. Saturday will see the Sprint Race contested first, before normal programming is resumed, with Qualifying. The Grand Prix will start at 3pm BST on Sunday.
2026 British Grand Prix Saturday schedule
Sprint Race: 12:00pm BST - 1:00pm BST
Qualifying: 4:00pm BST - 5:00pm BST
04 Jul 2026
16:46
Piastri and Norris are the next two drivers who will set their laps. Both are improving.
16:45
Red Bull go early again, and Verstappen again trails Hadjar by around half a tenth. They are fifth and sixth at present, and should be safe, but they won't be massively confident.
16:43
Currently in the bottom six places are Piastri, Gasly, Bearman, Sainz, Albon, Hulkenberg.
For Audi, Hulkenberg has not yet exited the garage in Q2.
16:42
"Can you get the spare seat?" asked Russell. He's getting out of the car now and Mercedes is getting to work.
16:41
Antonelli's first effort ended at Village, as his Mercedes power unit appeared to push him off the track in much the way Russell suffered in Q1. Two instances will be a concern for the team.
Antonelli goes third.
16:39
Russell finds some pace this time and goes to P2.
Something went wrong for Antonelli in the middle sectors, and he is going again.
16:38
Leclerc moves to the top, and Hamilton follows through into P2. A 1m28.864s is the new target, as Leclerc finds eight-tenths on his Q1 time.
16:38
Sainz goes slower than in Q1, with team-mate Albon also dropping time.
16:37
Verstappen finds two-tenths on his Q1 effort, and Hadjar is again the faster of the Red Bull drivers with a 1m29.183s. Both were on used tyres.
16:34
The Red Bull drivers are the first drivers to head out in Q2. Banker laps incoming.
16:30
Q2 begins
Having watched a replay of his lap, Ocon says that he would have made it through had it not been for Colapinto's crash. Having lifted off and slowed, he lost a considerable amount of time all the way up the Hanger Straight. A painful one for the Haas driver.
16:20
No improvements in the bottom order, and those out are
17. Ocon
18. Bottas
19. Colapinto
20. Perez
21. Stroll
22. Alonso
The Aston Martin pair were 1.4s off Perez. Ouch!
16:19
Norris aborts his effort and drops to P11. His McLaren does not look like an improvement on earlier.
16:18
Chequered flag
The flag falls in Q1, and Lawson goes second fastest.
16:18
Yellow flags again, and Colapinto has stopped.
But like Russell, he manages to get going again. He's out of qualifying though, in P18.
16:17
Hadjar goes fastest with a 1m29.276s effort. Verstappen goes to third place, and Russell has indeed returned to the pits.
16:15
Out comes Bortoleto. Only the two Ferrari drivers remain in the garages.
16:15
Russell looks a bit all over the place on this lap, with locking and oversteer all over the place.
But he still goes fifth fastest.
Mercedes will surely pull that car in now and attempt to repair any additional damage.
16:13
Currently, Perez, Bottas, Alonso, Stroll, Russell, and Bortoleto are in the drop zone. Russell is back out on track with six minutes remaining, but Bortoleto is stuck in the garage.
16:12
Russell's crash distracted us from the times for a moment there. Antonelli has gone to third place, and Lindblad has gone fourth on new softs. Most of the top order are using scrubbed softs for Q1. Russell will undoubtedly use fresh tyres to protect from an early bath here.
16:10
Russell damage
Russell recovers out of the barriers. He is now lapping very steadily to return to the pits. His front wing is hanging off, but it was a minimal contact with the wall. That should be a simple wing change.
16:08
Yellow flags, and Russell is in trouble!
16:07
The first times are coming in, and Leclerc and Hamilton are the early pace-setters, much as was the case in sprint qualifying.
Antonelli and Russell are just beginning their efforts.
Only the Audi drivers are using medium tyres at present, with everyone else on softs.
16:00
Qualifying begins
Qualifying is underway, with the Cadillac and Haas drivers the first to take to the track.