Max Verstappen snatched pole position for 2025 British Grand Prix at Silverstone in a dramatic finish to Qualifying.
Verstappen struggled in Friday Practice but rebounded in FP3 to third place in a competitive session, which continued throughout Qualifying as he left it until the death to snatch his fourth pole position of the season from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Lando Norris, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton however qualified third, fourth and fifth to set up an exciting race start, whilst Haas’ Oliver Bearman qualified eighth at his first British GP but a grid penalty demoted him to 18th on the grid.
FP3
A quiet start to the day saw Alpine’s Pierre Gasly head Franco Colapinto out onto the circuit and set 1m 28.552 as the benchmark, which his Argentinean teammate beat by 0.034 seconds.
Lewis Hamilton however displaced the Alpine pair in the 11th minute with 1m 27.351 which he then lowered to 1m 26.529, but Charles Leclerc two minutes later went quickest with 1m 25.494 ahead of Verstappen by 0.005s.
Leclerc improved his time in the 26th minute to 1m 25.922 to head Verstappen at the halfway mark as many drivers opted for soft-tyre opening stints.
Qualifying simulations soon followed in the cool cloudy conditions as Norris produced 1m 25.606 to go fastest with 17 minutes left, but Piastri went 0.040s quicker as Verstappen separated the pair in second.
Leclerc however finished fastest overall after he set 1m 25.498 with ten minutes left, with Piastri and Verstappen rounding out the top three – split by 0.087s – as red flags came out for debris two minutes later but the session resumed with three minutes left.
There however was another red flag in the penultimate minute after Gabriel Bortoleto spun his Sauber out at Chapel, whilst Bearman spun at the pit entry due to cold brakes as he slowed down but recovered to his pit box but was hit with a ten-place grid penalty and four penalty points for his error.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were the only drivers to not set their fastest lap times on the soft tyre, as their quickest laps were achieved on the medium tyres.
Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson received a black-and-white flag mid-session after he erratically tangled with Gasly through Copse but both drivers survived their clash unscathed.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 25.498 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.068 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.087 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.108 |
| 5 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | + 0.606 |
| 6 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 0.614 |
| 7 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.621 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.627 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | + 0.631 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 0.758 |
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.834 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 0.834 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 0.879 |
| 14 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.924 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | + 1.001 |
| 16 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | + 1.003 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.396 |
| 18 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 2.099 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 2.102 |
| 20 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.380 |
Qualifying
Q1
Bortoleto was first on track and set 1m 27.475 as the benchmark just 0.002s quicker than teammate, Hulkenberg whose time subsequently deleted due to exceeding track limits amidst light drizzle which arrived minutes prior to the session.
Gasly, Colapinto, Albon and Verstappen subsequently went quickest until Piastri posted 1m 26.002 in the seventh minute to go quickest.
Colapinto, Gasly, Stroll, Bortoleto and Hulkenberg sat in the elimination zone at the halfway mark and when Colapinto pushed to improve on his second flier, he spun off at Club into the gravel but recovered onto the track only to stop at Farm corner due to the damage to his Alpine.
Stewards consequently red flagged the session with six minutes and 49 seconds left, but not before Stroll got out of the bottom five, whilst Bortoleto improved to 16th just ahead of Ocon and Hulkenberg as Colapinto and Gasly occupied the last two spots in the classification.
After a 11-minute delay, the session resumed with Piastri first out on track as rain briefly began to fall more heavier but failed to make any notable impact upon the track as the track conditions ramped up in terms of lap time.
Verstappen eventually finished fastest with 1m 25.886 but Lawson found himself eliminated in 16th ahead of Bortoleto by just 0.006s, with Stroll, Hulkenberg and Colapinto filling positions 18-20th.
Hamilton scraped through in 14th position after Ferrari decided to pit him with a minute of the session left in a bold gamble by the Scuderia.
Q2
Verstappen was first to venture out and immediately laid 1m 25.316 as the benchmark time which Piastri matched moments later, but Norris in the sixth minute found 0.085s to go quickest with 1m 25.231 amidst a mixture of new soft-tyre runners and those on used soft tyres.
Hamilton, Antonelli, Leclerc, Gasly and Tsunoda consequently found themselves in the elimination zone once opening laps were completed.
As the checkered flag fell, Hamilton escaped elimination with the fastest overall time of 1m 25.084 ahead of Leclerc who too survived, as did Antonelli and Gasly which dropped Sainz, Hadjar, Albon and Ocon out in 11, 13, 14 and 15th positions respectively.
Tsunoda managed to improve to 12th on his final flier to put himself behind Sainz on the sixth row, although Sainz will start in the top ten due to a grid penalty for Bearman.
Q3
Bearman was the first driver to head out and he immediately laid down a benchmark time of 1m 25.899 but his time was quickly usurped by Verstappen, before Piastri laid 1m 24.995 as the benchmark provisional pole time.
Once everyone completed their opening laps, Piastri sat top from Hamilton and Norris, with the latter 0.100s clear of fourth-placed Verstappen, with Leclerc, Russell, Alonso, Bearman, Antonelli and Gasly rounding out the top ten.
At the checkered flag, Piastri looked set to produce McLaren’s first pole at home since Heikki Kovalainen in 2008 until Verstappen produced 1m 24.892 to snatch his fourth pole of the season ahead of the Aussie, which saw the Dutchman tie Sebastian Vettel for most poles (44) in a Red Bull.
Norris and Russell qualified third and fourth on the second row ahead of Hamilton, Leclerc, Antonelli, Bearman, Alonso and Gasly.
McLaren chasing first pole at British GP since Heikki Kovalainen in 2008
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 24.892 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.103 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.118 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.137 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.203 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.229 |
| 7 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.482 |
| 8 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 0.579 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.729 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.893 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1m 25.746 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | + 0.080 |
| 13 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | + 0.118 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.143 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 0.204 |
| 16 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 1m 26.440 |
| 17 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | + 0.006 |
| 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.064 |
| 19 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | + 0.134 |
| 20 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 0.620 |
*Antonelli will start ninth after he received a three-place grid penalty for his collision with Verstappen at Austrian GP.
** Bearman will start 18th after he received a ten-place grid penalty for his spin under red flag conditions in FP3.
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