Great Britain – Qualifying: Hamilton outpaces Bottas, Verstappen 3rd and relegated by a second!

Q3: Hamilton, the undisputed master of qualifying at Silverstone

Poleman already six times at Silverstone (the 91st of his career!), Lewis Hamilton secured a seventh pole, with a time of 1:24.303, achieved on the soft, red-banded tires, during his final flying lap.

The Briton had taken the lead from the first attempt, with a time of 1:24.616.

Second at +0.313, with a poor second sector, Valtteri Bottas was outperformed in the decisive moments of qualifying.

As since the beginning of the season, the two Mercedes were racing against each other: Max Verstappen mainly fought for third place, ahead of the rest of the competition. With its updates, the Dutchman’s RB11 dominated Leclerc… and Norris, a surprising fifth in his McLaren. But Verstappen took a +1.022 against Hamilton!

Only 6th, Stroll finished Q3 a second and a half off pole. The Racing Point driver still beat Sainz, Ricciardo, Ocon, and… Vettel in that order. Complicated end of the session for the Ferrari driver, who had his best lap time canceled after exceeding the track limits at the exit of Turn Nine, Copse.

HAMILTON: “Valtteri was pushing me right to the end. It was a real struggle out there.

“We had that spin. I was struggling through the first section. I managed to compose myself. The first Q3 lap was clean and the second was even better”#BritishGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/UHT9sFAmEN

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2020

Q2: Gasly eliminated by less than a thousandth!

The Frenchman Pierre Gasly came very close to Q3 by achieving exactly the same time as Lance Stroll: 1:26.501. On soft tires, the Canadian set his time first, allowing him to move on to the final part of qualifying, at the expense of the AlphaTauri driver, who will be the first driver to choose his tires at the start this Sunday.

11th before the last minute, moved back to 10th, Nico Hülkenberg was finally bumped down to 13th place, behind Gasly and Albon, a disappointing 12th on his Red Bull, despite being equipped with medium tires. All these drivers were notably eliminated by Ocon, Stroll, but also by Vettel, who switched to soft tires like the Racing Point driver!

Before Q3, the Mercedes drivers climbed to the top of the timesheet, far ahead of the others: +1.129 gap over Verstappen, 3rd!

Early session agitator, Lewis Hamilton caused a red flag with a spin! Upon re-accelerating in the seventh turn (Luffield), the Briton brought gravel onto the track, interrupting Q2 for a few moments while the marshals cleaned the asphalt.

Just before that, his teammate Valtteri Bottas had officially broken the track’s lap record from last year: a time of 1:25.015… on yellow-banded medium tires.

???? RED FLAG ????

Hamilton’s spin sprayed gravel on the track.

Marshals are doing their work! #BritishGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/eplOUpLBoS — Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2020

Q1: Russell emerges as the winner of the back of the grid battle.

Contested in sunny, relatively cool conditions, 38 degrees on the track and 22 in the air, the first part of the session was marked by a battle between three teams: Alfa Romeo-Haas-Williams. 6 drivers for a 15th place, synonymous with moving into Q2.

Big winner, George Russell, the Williams driver recording a nice time (1:26.723). The Briton was actually helped by his teammate, Nicholas Latifi, who spun off and caused a yellow flag on his final flying lap. The downside, Russell’s time was still under investigation by the stewards, as the driver did not slow down enough under the same yellow flag condition.

Already in the danger zone after the first timed lap, both Haas drivers remained stuck at the back of the grid, with Magnussen (16th) leading Grosjean (19th), who lost one of his lap times for exceeding track limits.

Also powered by Ferrari, the two Alfa Romeos didn’t make it out of Q1 either. It’s become a bad habit lately for Kimi Räikkönen (18th), who was eliminated for the 5th consecutive time in the first phase of qualifying.

At the front, Bottas set the fastest time (1:25.801), one tenth ahead of Hamilton, three tenths ahead of Verstappen.

Stewards are having a look to see if George Russell slowed down sufficiently under the yellow flags at the end of Q1 (when Latifi had his spin).#BritishGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/caHOgzR8lH

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2020

Here is the complete ranking of this qualifying session: