F1 – George Russell led Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes front-row lockout in qualifying for the British Grand Prix yesterday with McLaren’s Lando Norris completing a rare one-two-three of home drivers.
Red Bull’s Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen qualified fourth, after damaging his car by bouncing across the gravel at Copse in the first phase.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was fifth fastest on a drying track after light rain.
Russell had been on provisional pole by a knife-edge from Norris after the first flying laps but the Mercedes drivers made sure of the one-two with their final efforts while the McLaren man slipped up.
Hamilton went fastest of the three, Norris aborted his lap and Russell grabbed pole at the chequered flag in one minute 25.819 seconds.
Seven-times world champion Hamilton, a record eight-times winner at Silverstone, set a time of 1:25.990 and Norris 1:26.030.
The trio had already fired up the crowd, undeterred by cold conditions and occasional summer showers that could return during Sunday’s race, with the same order in final practice.
It was the first time three Britons had qualified in the top three since Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart at the 1968 South African Grand Prix. Lotus duo Clark and Hill went on to finish one-two.
The last home one-two-three on the British Grand Prix grid was at Aintree in 1962 with Clark, John Surtees and Innes Ireland.
While Mercedes and McLaren battled, Red Bull stumbled.
Verstappen said the slippery track had caught him out: “I had to go through the dirt...skating through the gravel, trying to not hit the wall. But I destroyed the floor,” he said.
Verstappen’s under-performing team mate Sergio Perez spun off at Copse and beached his car in the gravel in the first session.
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