Ferrari surprises at the British Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton gave the Silverstone crowd a major moment to celebrate by taking pole position for Saturday morning’s sprint race at the British Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver beat Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli to the top spot, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified third.
Pole comes against expectations
The result was unexpected because Ferrari had been tipped to trail Mercedes at Silverstone, a circuit where power is especially important.
Hamilton and Ferrari changed that narrative from the start of Friday’s running. He led first practice ahead of Antonelli and then topped every phase of sprint qualifying.
A narrow margin over Antonelli
The decisive lap came in Q3, when Hamilton edged Antonelli by just 11 thousandths of a second.
Hamilton’s pole time was 1 minute 28.376 seconds. Verstappen finished third, three-tenths of a second behind.
Antonelli leads the world championship by 40 points from teammate George Russell and by 46 points from Hamilton. Russell qualified fifth for the sprint.
Hamilton leans on Silverstone experience
Hamilton, a nine-time winner at Silverstone, appeared surprised by the strength of his Ferrari performance against Mercedes and Red Bull.
“I love this place, I love this crowd, and I can’t express to you how big a dream it is,” he said. “I’m really grateful to get that pole. I was quick through all the session but still, it was only 10 milliseconds, so it was very close to these guys.”
“Still to this day when you’re building up to this race you think about every corner and the flow you can get into at this track if you get the setup right and if you’ve got the right team behind you.”
Q3 battle builds to final lap
Oscar Piastri set the early benchmark for McLaren in the single-lap shootout before teammate Lando Norris moved ahead.
Antonelli then briefly claimed the fastest time, but Hamilton produced a strong middle sector to move to the top.
Charles Leclerc qualified fourth for Ferrari, while Norris and Piastri finished sixth and seventh.
Norris welcomes F1’s changing audience
Earlier in the day, Norris praised Formula One’s changing fanbase as the sport continues to attract more women and girls.
The British Grand Prix is expected to draw around 570,000 people across the weekend, breaking the previous record of 520,000 set at the Australian Grand Prix in 1995.
Female attendance reaches 43%
Female fans now account for 43% of ticket sales at the British Grand Prix.
Norris’ dedicated Landostand, located on the outside of Stowe corner and decorated in his fluorescent yellow color scheme, has been expanded to 20,000 capacity this year.
Last year, 70% of tickets for that stand were bought by female fans.
A broader fanbase for Formula One
“The fact of just more women getting into the sport in the first place is a good thing,” Norris said. “So, it’s nice to know that I’ve played a part in it, in bringing a newer, younger generation and an audience to Formula One.”
“Most that I’ve seen today were girls and women, which is a cool thing. It’s just good to know that Formula One has moved on from that point of view,” he added. “I don’t think it’s necessarily lost the amount of guys that love it, it’s just more of the girls and women that are getting into it, which is a bonus because there’s just more of an audience altogether.”
