Sir Lewis Hamilton dominated Sprint Qualifying to claim pole position for the 2026 British Sprint.
After a tricky Austrian GP, Hamilton bounced back to top Practice which laid the foundations for a dominant sprint qualifying to claim his second sprint pole in F1 by 0.011 seconds from Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Practice
Nine-time British GP winner, Hamilton was first out on track and set 1m 34.696 as the initial benchmark time, which was quickly usurped by last year’s third-placed finisher, Nico Hulkenberg as the Audi driver went 0.305 seconds quicker.
Antonelli soon lowered the benchmark time to 1m 32.579 from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri whilst Lando Norris had his lap time deleted, after the Brit had ran wide at Village on his first flier.
Antonelli was soon displaced by George Russell then Hamilton in the eighth minute as the benchmark was lowered to 1m 31.877, only for Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar to set 1m 31.697 in the 11th minute to go quickest.
Hamilton responded with 1m 31.434 but Max Verstappen found 0.157s to go even faster moments later, but the pair were displaced in the 14th minute as Hadjar set 1m 30.969 to head Antonelli by 0.007s with Russell a further 0.010s behind the Italian.
Antonelli however lowered the benchmark to 1m 30.777 by the halfway mark of the session to head Hadjar and Russell.
Hamilton however found a further 0.256s in the 34th minute to set 1m 30.521 as the benchmark time ahead of the late-session qualifying simulations, which saw a mixture of medium and soft-tyres used across the grid as Piastri with 10 minutes left set 1m 30.147 as the benchmark time.
Russell found 0.209s on Piastri’s time just a minute later but Antonelli found further time to set 1m 29.473 as the benchmark time just moments afterwards.
Hamilton however waited until six minutes left to post 1m 29.260 which proved enough to top the session from Antonelli.
Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto, Arvid Lindblad, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll set their fastest laps on the medium tyre, whilst Alpine’s Pierre Gasly achieved his quickest lap on the hard tyre due to setup issues.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1m 29.260 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.213 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.599 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.678 |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.887 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.980 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.028 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.078 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.483 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.590 |
| 11 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.706 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.775 |
| 13 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 2.079 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 2.113 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 2.424 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 2.424 |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.437 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.890 |
| 19 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 2.981 |
| 20 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 3.697 |
| 21 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 3.759 |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 3.870 |
Sprint Qualifying
SQ1
Perez was first on track and laid 1m 31.862 as the initial benchmark time on medium tyres but times quickly tumbled, with Hadjar fastest on 1m 29.470 once everyone set a lap time, whilst Bearman, Ocon, Perez, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll sat in the bottom six.
With three minutes left, Hamilton set 1m 29.273 as the fastest lap of the segment.
At the checkered flag, none of the bottom six survived as Ocon, Perez, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll stayed as they were, whilst Bearman briefly climbed to 15th but was subsequently knocked out by Sainz and Albon.
SQ2
Hulkenberg was the first driver to venture out on track and set 1m 29.729 but his time was beaten by Verstappen and Piastri amongst others, before Hamilton laid 1m 28.747 as the time to beat in the fifth minute ahead of Antonelli by 0.009s.
Sainz and Albon headed the elimination zone in 11th and 12th respectively, as Lawson, Gasly, Lindblad and Colapinto opted to sit out the opening half of the segment.
Once the latter quartet set their lap times, the six drivers in the elimination zone comprised of; Gasly, Bortoleto, Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Sainz and Albon.
As the checkered flag fell, none of the bottom six survived as they finished as they were once everyone had set a lap time, whilst Hamilton again topped the segment.
SQ3
A quiet start to the session saw everyone opt to save a set of soft tyres by staying in the garages until Piastri and Lindblad led the top ten out onto the circuit with three minutes left.
Piastri laid 1m 28.772 as the initial benchmark time but Antonelli lowered that benchmark to 1m 28.387, only for Hamilton to complete a dominant day with 1m 28.376 to snatch pole by 0.011s from the Italian.
Verstappen outdrove his Red Bull to qualify third ahead of Leclerc by 0.006s, whilst Russell, Norris, Piastri, Hadjar, Lawson and Lindblad rounded out the top ten.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1m 28.376 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.011 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.321 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.327 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.357 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.364 |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.396 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 0.459 |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 0.551 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 0.991 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1m 29.482 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 0.197 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 0.225 |
| 14 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 0.501 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 0.715 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.168 |
| 17 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 1m 31.083. |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 0.631 |
| 19 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 0.693 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 0.937 |
| 21 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.827 |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.905 |
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