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Lewis Hamilton takes pole despite spinning and causing red flag

1 August 2020 at 14:54
Last update 1 August 2020 at 15:17
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  • Louis Shaw
  • Editor

Mercedes continued their dominance at Silverstone by extending their impressive record of qualifying on pole at every British Grand Prix since the start of the hybrid era. Lewis Hamilton took pole position setting a 1.24.303, a new track record, despite spinning in Q2 bringing out the red flag.

Silverstone looked like a ghost town as the cars flew around the circuit, battling out to determine the starting grid for tomorrow’s race. The grandstands were empty but Formula 1 put on a show that had the fans watching from home sitting excitedly on the edge of their sofas.

Once again it was Mercedes who proved that they are in a different league but Hamilton made a rare mistake when he spun on his first flying lap in Q2 bringing out the red flag as marshalls cleared the gravel that ended up on the track. 

Hamilton did not let this knock his confidence and came out in Q3 with the bit between his teeth wanting to prove that his spin was just a blip. Valtteri Bottas was not far behind and will start alongside his teammate on the front row. 

Hamilton wasn’t the only driver to make a mistake as it seemed that the gusting wind was making things hard for the drivers. Nicholas Latifi spun at the end of Q1 bringing out the yellow flags which put an end to Kimi Raikkonen’s hopes of qualifying further up the grid meaning it was the same sorry story for Alfa Romeo and Haas as both teams once again failed to make it out of Q1. 

George Russell showed his class by putting his Williams into Q2 for a third successive time but he is under investigation for not lifting off when the yellow flag came out. He provisionally starts the race in 14th place and will be over the moon at being more competitive than he was last season. 

Medium Tyre

Most cars came out on the medium tyre at the start of Q2 as teams seemed convinced that it would be a better race rubber. However, many drivers then went out on the soft rubber just to cover themselves. 

Alex Albon looked like he was driving a different car to his teammate and to repeat the usual story he finished behind Max Verstappen. He did not make it out of Q2 and will once again have to face questions of whether he deserves his seat at one of the top teams in the sport. 

Nico Hulkenberg did well as he replaced the COVID positive Sergio Perez but would have been frustrated not to have made it into Q3. He made a slight error on his flying lap and will start the race from 13th position. 

The Q3 shoot out was tight with the two Mercedes being split by the blinking of the eye. McLaren and Renault impressed but it is Verstappen who will start the race in 3rd alongside Charles Leclerc who seemingly got his car to perform better than his four-time world champion teammate could. 

The high-speed nature of the track makes tomorrow's race one that you don't want to miss. Here's the provisional starting line up:   

Q1 

16. Magnussen

17. Raikkonen

18. Giovinazzi

19. Latifi

20. Grosjean

Q2

11. Gasly

12. Albon

13. Hulkenberg

14. Russell

15. Kvyat

Q3

1. Hamilton

2. Bottas

3. Verstappen

4. Leclerc

5. Norris

6. Stroll

7. Sainz

8. Ricciardo 

9. Vettel

10. Ocon