Hamilton claims Sprint pole on home weekend

Lewis Hamilton secured pole position for the Sprint at the British Grand Prix. The British driver was quicker than Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen. The Ferrari driver stopped the clock at 1'28"376, while the Italian recorded a 1'28"387. The seven-time world champion was also the driver able to set the fastest times of the day on all three compounds available.

As required by the regulations, drivers were mandated to use a set of Mediums in SQ1, a second set of Mediums in SQ2 and a set of Softs in SQ3. Among the ten drivers who reached the final session, all completed a three-lap stint on the softest compound.

Hamilton had already been quickest in the first free practice session, setting a time of 1'29"260 on Soft tyres. Earlier, he had completed 21 laps on the Hards, spread across three different stints, before returning to the C1 at the end of the session. Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc finished FP1 in second and third place respectively.

Ambient temperatures remained around 25°C, while track temperature peaked at 42°C during the first free practice session. Forecasts indicate similar weather conditions for Saturday and for Sunday’s race.

DARIO MARRAFUSCHI – PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR 

The Silverstone weekend has got underway in line with expectations on the tyre front, while the home crowd enjoyed a welcome surprise thanks to a British favourite securing Sprint pole position. The first part of the sole hour of free practice allowed teams to become familiar with the C1, a compound that, prior to Silverstone, had only been used at Suzuka. The C2 and C3, on the other hand, were mainly used for performance runs, enabling teams to gather useful data ahead of the rest of the weekend.

In both of today’s sessions, degradation proved to be in line with our expectations, and the initial performance delta observed between Medium and Soft, at equal fuel loads, was around four tenths, approximately a tenth less than indicated by simulations. It will be interesting to see tomorrow which compounds come into play in the Sprint race, because, at this stage, even the Soft appears capable of being among the competitive options, particularly for those starting from the second half of the grid.

FORMULA 2

Rafael Camara will start from pole position in Sunday’s Formula 2 race. The Brazilian was the fastest in Friday’s qualifying session, finishing just over two tenths ahead of second-placed Alex Dunne. At Silverstone, Kush Maini set the third fastest time and will therefore start third on Sunday. Tomorrow, for the Sprint race, drivers will line up with the grid reversed.

FORMULA 3

Freddie Slater secured pole position on Friday in Great Britain. Slater edged out Theophile Nael, who set the second fastest time, while Louis Sharp recorded the third quickest lap. The Formula 3 Sprint race is also scheduled for tomorrow.