Max Verstappen Claims Stunning Silverstone Pole

Max Verstappen will start the British Grand Prix from pole position. While all the signs pointed to a McLaren-Ferrari battle, the four-time world champion delivered a stunning performance on his final timed lap in Q3 to snatch pole away from Oscar Piastri. These two were the only drivers to get under the 1’25” barrier: 1’24”892 for the Red Bull driver, 1’24”995 for McLaren’s Australian.

This is Verstappen’s 44th pole position, which puts him level with Sebastian Vettel as the most successful Red Bull Racing driver in this discipline. For the Milton Keynes team, it is pole number 107, its sixth at this track and the third at Silverstone for Max, following on from those in 2021 and 2023. The second row is an all-Brit affair, with Lando Norris (1’25”010) ahead of George Russell (1’25”029), while the third row will be all-red, courtesy of Lewis Hamilton (1’25”095) ahead of Charles Leclerc (1’25”121).

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Verstappen by José Mourinho, one of the most successful and influential trainers in the current age of football. After a short career as a player, Mourinho made his name as a manager, taking three national and international titles with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan – with whom he won the Treble, taking the championship, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League – as well as with Real Madrid, Manchester United and Roma. “The Special One” as he is known, became the first trainer to win all the major UEFA competitions and now manages the Turkish Fenerbahçe side.

In Free Practice 3, all the teams focused on preparations for qualifying. The two Red Bull Racing drivers each used a set of Hards, thus joining their colleagues from Aston Martin, Williams and Haas in the group of teams who will only have one set of the C2 for tomorrow. As always, the Aston Martin pair performed a scrubbing-in lap on their second sets of Hard. Alonso and Stroll also used a second set of Mediums this morning, as did Ocon and Bearman for Haas and the Williams duo of Albon and Sainz. All the other drivers ran the Soft in FP3.

Max Verstappen – Pole

“I’m very happy to be on Pole today. It was unexpected as we had quite a tricky day yesterday, but I’m happy with our performance today. It has been difficult this week and we have tried a few things to fix both the understeer and oversteer we have been experiencing. In Qualifying, everyone was struggling with the wind and with the weather turning, but then we felt a lot more stable towards the end and the balance was better. We ultimately had a lot lower downforce than the others so were quicker on the straight. We really put it together today in Q3 and on that final run. In the first corner I could feel more grip and balance and then this continued into turns six and seven. We were already three tenths up and I really didn’t want to make a mistake going into the final sector! It was also great to find the potential out of the upgrade and this is a great boost for the Team. Tomorrow will be difficult; tyre management is going to be important as the wear has always been tough round here, so we hope we can be competitive and can hopefully give it a good go.”

Oscar Piastri – P2

“We’re starting on the front row tomorrow. My first Q3 lap was mega, and I was thinking about how I might go faster, but wasn’t able to put it all together for the second run. It’s been tight all weekend, so it’s going to be close tomorrow, but we’ve got the pace to fight for the win. We’ve tried a lot of things this weekend to find a little more, and the team’s done a very good job to get us to where we are. It’s going to be an exciting race tomorrow.”

Lando Norris – P3

“It was a great Qualifying session. It’s very fast around Silverstone, very enjoyable and I’m not going to be unhappy with a third. We didn’t quite have enough pace today, but still a good day. It’s tiny things here that put you ahead or behind. We saw yesterday how close it was going to be, with hundredths here and there. I think it’s going to be fun tomorrow: not just us and Max – Ferrari are in it, George as well. We’ve got a very interesting British Grand Prix ahead – and I’m looking forward to it.”

Mario Isola – Pirelli Director of Motorsport

“Silverstone always delivers a great show, on the track and in the grandstands and today was no exception. The outcome of qualifying was only decided in the final moments, with Verstappen delivering a masterful performance to beat really strong opponents. Therefore, all the signs point to an equally closely contested race tomorrow, with at least six drivers in the hunt for victory and the other podium places.

“Neither is strategy clear cut. In fact, the difference between simulations for a one or a two-stop race is very small, of the order of two to three seconds. Therefore, the choice will be mainly down to each car’s performance and their relative tyre degradation. The fastest choice is to run Medium-Hard, with a pit stop between laps 19 and 25. Those opting to pit twice, again running the C2 and C3, should come in the first time between laps 12 and 18 and the second between lap 32 and 38.

“This is a very demanding track, because of the high lateral forces generated through the many high speed corners, and the actual wear of the tyre tread is also a factor. Therefore, in the race, tyre wear will have to be monitored closely, as indeed will graining, which we expect to see, given that temperatures will be similar to today’s, around ten degrees centigrade cooler than in free practice.

“All three compounds have shown themselves to be viable for the race. Obviously, the Hard and Medium offer more consistent performance over a long stint, but the Soft could come into play both at the start, for those looking to make up places off the line, and in the final stages. It should be noted that four teams, Aston Martin, Williams, Haas and Racing Bulls, have opted to have just one set of Hard and one of Medium for the race. This would suggest they are leaning towards a one-stop strategy. However, if degradation turns out to be higher than they expected, or if opportunities such as a Safety Car present themselves, the Soft could become the obvious choice for these eight drivers.

“The C4 demonstrated that on this type of track, it is capable of delivering its full potential on the first attempt. It’s true that the lap times set after one or two cool-down laps were decent enough, but the advantage of a new tyre over a used one was significant.”

FORMULA 2

Leonardo Fornaroli won the Sprint Race. Invicta Racing’s Italian thus secured his maiden F2 victory, his very first win in four years, the last dating back to his time in F4 in 2021. Starting from pole, Fornaroli was passed off the line by Maini but then retook the lead with a nice passing move on the opening lap. He then kept the lead to the chequered flag. Standing on the second step of the podium was Sebastian Montoya (Prema Racing), who had a strong race, from sixth off the grid. Third was the Czech, Roman Stanek (Invicta Racing).

FORMULA 3

Today, Silverstone provided the backdrop for the very first win for a Thai driver in this category, since it took on the name of FIA Formula 3 Championship. Campos Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak was the driver in question and he briefly lost the lead at half-distance, but once he regained it, no one was able to catch him. Martinius Stenshorne worked his way up from sixth to second at the flag for Hitech TGR, ahead of Mari Boya, to make it a double podium for the Spanish team.