Max Verstappen delivered a brilliant, last gasp lap at Silverstone to beat Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to pole position for the British Grand Prix, with the Dutchman outpacing the McLaren pair by just over a tenth of second in a tight qualifying session. 

At the start of Q1 Verstappen jumped straight to the top of the timesheet with his first flyer on Softs. His lap of 1:26.041 wasn’t enough to keep Piastri at bay and the Australian edged four hundredths clear, with Aston Martin’s Fernado Alonso third ahead of Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell. 

The session was then briefly red flagged when Franco Colapinto spun off at the final corner. The Alpine driver got out of shape on the entry to Vale and then lost control in Club. He slid off into the gravel and tapped the barriers. He was able to get going again, but with his rear wing loose, he eventually pulled over and with a little under seven minutes left, running was halted. 

In the final runs, as Piastri backed out of his last lap, Verstappen improved by four tenths of a second to 1:26.002 to take top spot ahead of the Australian. Haas’ Oliver Bearman, facing a 10-place grid penalty for failing to heed red flags in FP3, put in a strong lap to take a surprise third ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and Alonso. 

There was no place in Q2 for Liam Lawson, however, and the Racing Bulls driver was eliminated in P16 ahead of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, the second Sauber of Nico Hülkenberg and the hapless Colapinto. 

Verstappen was first out on track in Q2, and the Dutchman took P1 with a lap of 1:25.316. Piastri posted exactly the same time but by virtue of being the first to set the time, Verstappen held P1 ahead of the McLaren driver. Norris then took the fight to the Red Bull driver, and he claimed P1 just eight hundredths of a second ahead of the Dutchman.

It was a tricky first run for Ferrari, however, as both Hamilton, in P11, and Leclerc, in P13, found themselves in danger. Both had set their times on used tyres, but in the final runs both would need to maximise the opportunity of fresh rubber. 

The top three headed out on used tyres for their final laps and with fresh Softs on board the Ferrari driver was able to vault to the top of the order. Lewis Hamilton took top spot on 1:25.084, just under five hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc. Norris held fourth while Verstappen eased through to Q3 in fourth place. 

Eliminated at the end of Q2 were Williams’ Carlos Sainz in P11 followed by the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, the second Williams of Alex Albon and Haas’ Esteban Ocon. 

The first runs of Q3 saw Piastri take provisional pole with a time of 1:24.995, just over a tenth ahead of Hamilton, while Norris slotted into third place. 

At the end of the opening runs, Verstappen lay fourth, almost three tenths down on Piastri. Claiming a fourth pole of the season would be a tall order, but in the final runs the Dutchman sprung a massive surprise. While both Piastri and Norris made mistakes in the final sector of their laps to miss out on improvements, Verstappen found a whopping four tenths of a second over his first-run time to post a lap of 1:24.892 and take a stunning 44th career pole a tenth clear of Piastri and Norris. 

Russell qualified fourth ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc, while Kimi Antonellli, facing a three-place grid penalty, finished seventh ahead of Bearman, Alonso and Gasly. Both Antonelli and Bearman will drop down the grid tomorrow and that will boost Yuki to P11 for the start. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:24.892 - -
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:24.995 0.103 0.121
3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:25.010 0.118 0.139
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:25.029 0.137 0.161
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:25.095 0.203 0.239
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:25.121 0.229 0.270
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:25.621 0.729 0.859
8 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:25.471 0.579 0.682
9 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:25.374 0.482 0.568
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:25.785 0.893 1.052
11 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:25.746 0.854 1.006
12 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:25.826 0.934 1.100
13 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:25.864 0.972 1.145
14 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:25.889 0.997 1.174
15 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:25.950 1.058 1.246
16 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:26.440 1.548 1.823
17 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:26.446 1.554 1.831
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:26.504 1.612 1.899
19 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:26.574 1.682 1.981
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:27.060 2.168 2.554