Lewis Hamilton had just enough to beat Max Verstappen and finish as the fastest qualifier for the British Grand Prix.
While the Dutchman appeared in dominant form again in practice, the world champion unleashed his upgraded Mercedes in the session to decide the grid for Saturday’s sprint race.
Verstappen admitted understeer issues made it tough to replicate his form from earlier in the day, but it was only the brilliance of Hamilton, and maybe a little slipstream help, that earned the local favourite P1.
Q1
Verstappen set the pace initially, leading Hamilton by just 0.035s after the Briton did a second run in Q1.
In the battle to make Q2, Aston Martin was under pressure with both Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll in the bottom five heading into the final runs.
Both would improve enough to progress through with Yuki Tsunoda and Kimi Raikkonen taking their places in 16th and 17th.
Nicholas Latifi once again led the two Haas’ at the back of the field, with Mick Schumacher four-tenths clear of Nikita Mazepin.
Q2
Hamilton responded in Q2 going almost three-tenths faster than the Red Bull in P1.
For the second race in a row, George Russell made it through to Q3 in P7, while the two McLarens only scraped through in P9 and P10.
Fernando Alonso was the first driver eliminated in 11th, just 0.025s off the cut-off point.
Pierre Gasly was the meat in an Alpine sandwich in P12, with fellow countryman Esteban Ocon 13th.
Antonio Giovinazzi was 14th with Lance Stroll rounding out the top 15 for Aston Martin.
Q3
The early edge went to Hamilton in the fight for P1, the Mercedes driver going almost two-tenths faster than Verstappen in second.
Valtteri Bottas led Sergio Perez in the scrap for third, albeit a few tenths off the leading pair.
In the second run, Hamilton was on course for a faster lap before mistakes at Stowe and Vale meant he wouldn’t improve.
That opened the door for Verstappen to try and take the best time, but he would fall just 0.075s short in second for Red Bull.
Bottas took third with Charles Leclerc taking fourth for Ferrari, as Perez had his final run of Q3 deleted for track limits.
Just 0.003s separated the two McLarens in Lando Norris’ favour over Daniel Ricciardo sixth and seventh.
Russell claimed P8 for Williams, as Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel completed the top 10.
Back at the front, an incredible qualifying session and an epic battle that will now go on to Formula 1’s first-ever Qualifying Sprint race on Sunday. Good luck replicating that drama!
Full results from qualifying can be seen below:
What a performance from @LewisHamilton ?#BritishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/FdMS3u0O46
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 16, 2021