Lewis Hamilton beats Kimi Antonelli to Silverstone F1 sprint pole at British GP

Lewis Hamilton pipped the Mercedes of Formula 1 championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli to claim pole position for the British Grand Prix sprint race. 

Seven-time world champion Hamilton continued his blistering practice pace in sprint qualifying to top each of the three sessions and outpace Antonelli by just 0.011 seconds in a one-lap shootout in SQ3. 

Hamilton delighted a raucous home crowd at Silverstone with a brilliant lap to secure pole, and a big wobble coming out of the final corner suggested the rejuvenated 41-year-old Briton had more time in hand. 

Hamilton, who is seeking a record-extending 10th British Grand Prix victory at Silverstone, described his sprint pole as an “amazing surprise”. 

“I love this place, I love this crowd, and I can’t express to you how big a dream it is, and still to this day, when you’re building up to this race and you think about every corner and the flow you can get into at this track if you get the setup right and if you’ve got the right team behind you," Hamilton said. 

“And the car’s felt great today thanks to everyone back at the factory, just continuing to push. We brought tiny little bits here. Every single weekend we’re showing up with something. Everyone’s pushing to the max. 

"I’m really grateful to get that pole. I was quick through all the session but still, it was only 10 milliseconds, so it was very close to these guys. The team really deserves it, so a big, big thank you to everyone here." 

Max Verstappen was third-fastest for Red Bull as he ended up 0.321 s adrift, with Hamilton’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc fourth-fastest, ahead of the second Mercedes of George Russell, who was nearly four-tenths off the pace.

Lando Norris survived a scare to sneak into the final part of sprint qualifying and ended up sixth-quickest after McLaren was forced into repairs to fix damage to one of his brake ducts. 

Isack Hadjar was eighth, ahead of the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and F1 rookie Arvid Lindblad, who ensured that four of the five British drivers ended up in the top-10. 

Pierre Gasly secured 11th on the grid ahead of the Audi duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, with the second Alpine of Franco Colapinto 14th-fastest. 

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon were the slowest runners in SQ2 and could only manage times good enough for 15th and 16th for Williams.

The two Haas cars were eliminated in the first part of qualifying, with Ollie Bearman only 17th and team-mate Esteban Ocon down in 18th. 

Sergio Perez once again outpaced team-mate Valtteri Bottas as the Cadillac pair also dropped out in SQ1 in 19th and 20th. 

Aston Martin took its regular spot at the very back of the grid, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll well off the pace in 21st and 22nd respectively. 

Saturday’s 17-lap sprint race gets underway at 12:00 on Saturday.