Flying Dutchman Max Verstappen clinched pole position at the British Grand Prix on Saturday after a flying final lap to steal pole away from Oscar Piastri. 

Despite having secured provisional pole during the first runs of Q3, Piastri failed to improve, with Verstappen delivering a perfect lap on an effort of 1m 24.892s, putting himself 0.103s clear of the McLaren. 

The other papaya car of Lando Norris will start from third, the Briton also unable to better his previous time on his last flying lap. George Russell followed for Mercedes in fourth, while Lewis Hamilton wound up in fifth, a disappointing result for the Ferrari driver who was Piastri’s closest challenger in the first runs. 

Hamilton’s team mate Charles Leclerc claimed sixth, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli taking seventh ahead of Ollie Bearman in eighth, set to start at the back of the grid due to a ten-point penalty issued for a red flag infringement in third practice. 

Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin in ninth place, while Pierre Gasly was an impressive 10th at the wheel of the Alpine. 

Williams had a disappointing day, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon both exiting Q2 in P11 and P14 respectively. It was also another tough outing for Yuki Tsunoda, who found himself down in P12 for Red Bull. 

There was drama in Q1 when Alpine’s Franco Colapinto spun off into the barriers at the final corner, bringing out the red flags and leaving the Argentinian driver down in P20. 

Verstappen commented, “It was tricky out there with the wind, it was all shifting around a bit and around here with these cars, it is extremely sensitive to it. This is a proper track, when you have to go flat out you have to be super committed. 

“We are quite quick on the straight, we have to wait and see what tomorrow will do but I am happy – it is a big boost for the team and excited to go racing tomorrow. 

“We are going to go racing, we are going to have fun and we are going to do the best we can.” 

Fornaroli and Inthraphuvasak take F2 and F3 Sprint Race wins 

Leonardo Fornaroli and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak took the first race victories at the British Grand Prix, securing the honours in Formula 2 and Formula 3 respectively.  

Fornaroli put in a dominant performance to seal his maiden Formula 2 victory in the Silverstone Sprint Race, after he lost lead at the start of the race.  

Colombian Sebastián Montoya came through from sixth on the grid to finish in second for PREMA Racing, as Roman Stanek made it two Invicta cars on the podium in third. 

Fornaroli commented, “Very happy about today’s race, P1 finally. Really happy about my pace, I managed to be quick at the start, but without destroying my tyres, and with this I was able to defend from Sebastián. So very happy about today, now let’s focus on tomorrow’s Feature Race.” 

In the battle for the final spot in the points, Motorsport UK Team UK graduate Arvid Lindblad finished in P11, with compatriot and fellow graduate Luke Browning taking P8. 

In F3, Inthraphuvasak became the first driver from Thailand to win an FIA Formula 3 race as he controlled the Silverstone Sprint from reverse grid pole. 

The Campos Racing driver briefly lost the lead midway through the race, but once he regained the lead, nobody could catch him. 

Martinius Stenshorne came through from P6 to claim second on the podium for Hitech TGR ahead of Mari Boya in third.