Verstappen BRINGS THE HOUSE DOWN bagging a scintillating pole at Silverstone!

Oscar piastri placed his McLaren above Max Verstappen's Red Bull,albeit marginally, by 0.039s. Fernando Alonso surprised friend and foe by slotting in third ahead of Lando Norris in P4, George Russell in P5 and Lewis Hamilton in P6. Isack Hadjar, Oliver Bearman, Charles Leclerc and Alexander Albon rounded off the top 10, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda at risk for the last round of push laps in P13, P14 and P15 respectively.

As Q1 ended the midfield teams turned up the wick with Albon jumping to Q3, Nico Hulkenberg to P14, Gabriel Bortoleto to P11, Antonelli to P8, Tsunoda to P9 and Bearman to P3, as Verstappen edged out Piastri for P1. In the dying moments of the session, Lewis Hamilton asked if he could indeed go again to improve on his time since at the time he was placed P13, to which Ferrari said no on account of a lack of fuel. With drivers improving it lookd as if Hamilton was going to be eliminated early from qualifying for his home race.However, the improvements were marginal and not enough to demote the Briton down to the elimination zone.

With all the drivers having completed the fastest possible lap it was Lando Norris who led the field in Q2 by 0.085s from Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri who set an indentical lap time. The gap to the following cars was of over four tenths at least, with Russell in P4, Alonso in P5, Sainz and Albon in P6 and P7, ahead of Hadjar, Bearman and Ocon. Hamilton, Antonelli, Leclerc, Gasly and Tsunoda were the five drivers risking elimination.

Amid doubts and worry, Hamilton and Leclerc leapt to the top of the timing sheets, with the Briton leading the Monegasque. Bearman jumped to P6 ahead of Alonso, with Antonelli, Russell and Gasly closing off the top 10.

Piastri set himself as the man to beat ahead of Hamilton and Norris by over 1 tenth and Verstappen in P4 well away from the Australian driver at nearly three tenths, with Leclerc placing P5 behind the Dutchman, with Russell, Alonso, Bearman, Antonelli and Gasly rounding off the top 10.