Feature
What the teams said – Qualifying in Great Britain
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Mercedes
Mercedes’ ascent looked to be continuing throughout Saturday at Silverstone. After Russell set the pace in the mixed conditions of FP3, he followed this up by running near the top of the timesheets in Q1 and Q2 of qualifying before setting provisional pole in Q3. While Hamilton initially looked to have taken the accolade from his team mate during the final runs, Russell then bettered his time to seal pole position. Hamilton was ultimately just 0.171s away, meaning that the pair will lock out the front row on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton, 2nd, 1:25.990
“Having three Brits at the front of the grid for the British Grand Prix is incredible. A huge congratulations to George, he did such a great job to take pole position. We didn’t expect to be on the front-row this weekend. This result is therefore huge for us as a team. The car felt fantastic out there and everyone at Brackley and Brixworth deserves this.
“It was all about getting the tyre temperatures in the right place today and then sealing the deal with a good lap. I think there was a little time left on the table which George managed to extract. I feel confident in the car for tomorrow’s race. With both myself and George on the front-row, we have an advantage in trying to keep Lando (Norris) behind. Let’s see what we can do.”
George Russell, 1st, 1:25.819
“What a feeling! At the start of this year, we couldn’t have even dreamt of being on pole position at Silverstone. Having three Brits in the top-three is absolutely mega too. The crowd has been incredible, and they give us all so much energy. Having myself, Lewis, and Lando (Norris) at the front of the grid just shows that!
“The car at the moment feels so good. It came alive in Qualifying, and it was an absolute joy to drive around this amazing circuit. We are riding a wave at the moment, but our eyes are on tomorrow. We’ve got a race to win, and we know that the McLaren of Lando will be pushing us incredibly hard. Max (Verstappen) will also be in the fight, but I am so excited right now. We can’t wait for the race tomorrow.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“That was a very good Saturday for the team. That is a front three for Mercedes-Benz power and three Brits at the front, which is special for the Silverstone crowd. That said, today doesn’t count for much. We need to do the job tomorrow and the McLaren of Lando Norris has looked incredibly quick. Keeping him behind will be a tough ask. The race tomorrow may be dictated by tyre degradation so we will have to be at our very best if we want to fight for victory.
“We’ve been on a rollercoaster in recent months, and it has been difficult at times. Coming here to one of the temples of motorsport and locking out the front-row is a great reward for everyone at Brackley and Brixworth. So much work has been done in all areas to help get us into this position. We are not stopping here though. We have more developments to come, and everyone is continuing to push incredibly hard.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“That was a great qualifying session for the team and drivers. It's been a while since we've had both cars on the front row, and this is a testament to the hard work and determination from everyone in the team.
“In FP3, it felt like we had good pace in the wet. That running was useful as there's still a chance that we'll see more rain tomorrow. We felt we were missing a bit of speed on the Soft tyre yesterday, but the overnight setup work seems to have nudged us in the right direction. The cooler conditions may also have suited our car. Turning a front row in Qualifying into a one-two for tomorrow is our objective. We're under no illusion that with Lando (Norris) and Max (Verstappen) behind us, that will be a difficult task. We've enjoyed great support from the Silverstone crowd so far this weekend and we'll do everything we can to give them something to celebrate tomorrow.”
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McLaren
Off the back of leading the way in both of Friday’s practice sessions, Norris very much looked in contention for pole on Saturday. The Briton went fastest in Q2 and appeared to have taken provisional pole in Q3 – before Russell displaced him at the top by just six thousandths of a second. When it was time for the final flying runs, Norris opted to return to the pits rather than completing his lap, leaving him in third place. McLaren team mate Piastri had also displayed good pace during the hour but felt that his final lap was compromised by traffic, and the Australian will line up in P5.
Lando Norris, 3rd, 1:26.030
“I’m happy with P3. Three Brits locking out the top three positions at the British Grand Prix is pretty cool. Both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton did great laps and an excellent job. I made a little mistake on my part at the end, but we’re still in a good starting spot. It’s going to rain again tomorrow, and I’m excited to put on a good show. It’s going to be a good race for the fans. I know we’re quick, so I can bring the fight to both the Mercedes.”
Oscar Piastri, 5th, 1:26.237
“A bit of a disappointing result in the end. We had the pace and ability to be further up, but I got stuck in traffic on my last lap. The car is quick, and we have solid race pace, so anything is possible tomorrow, especially with the weather. We’ll review it this evening and make sure we give it everything tomorrow.”
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
“It was a well-executed Qualifying in mixed conditions at Silverstone today, until the final run in Q3 where we did not fully capitalise. We were able to progress through the sessions relatively comfortably. The first run was promising, but then, in the second run for both Lando and Oscar, we didn't have the possibility to improve, and this meant we missed out on a better result.
“On Lando’s side, his last lap was a little untidy, while Oscar needed to fight for position on the out lap, ending up too close to Carlos Sainz when opening his final lap. Going into tomorrow, we are still in a very strong position for the race. We will maximise our preparation and try to look ahead in the race.”
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Red Bull
It wasn’t the most straightforward day for Red Bull, with Verstappen losing control of his RB20 and experiencing a costly run through the gravel at Copse in the opening phase of a wet-dry Q1 segment. This left the Dutchman with floor damage but, while he was unable to fight for pole, he still recovered to claim P4. Like Verstappen, Perez also had an off at Copse early on in Q1 – however, unlike his team mate, the Mexican became beached in the gravel, bringing out the red flags in the process. Having been unable to rejoin, he will line up down in P19 on the grid.
Max Verstappen, 4th, 1:26.203
"The team did a great job trying to recover some of the bits and optimise the balance from front to rear, but it majorly affected out qualifying. I was lucky to be in Q3 after that and, in the end, to qualify in P4 was a bit of a positive surprise and the best we could do today."
Sergio Perez, 19th, 1:38.348
"I messed up today and it hurts a lot because to let your team down that way is not nice. It will be hard to recover from the back of the grid but let's see what we are able to do tomorrow, we must limit the damage and hope things go in our favour."
Christian Horner, Team Principal
"It was a brilliant lap by Max. To get on the second row with that amount of damage? We'll take that. It was a tough qualifying for Checo. No one will be more disappointed than he, going out in Q1 like that."
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Ferrari
Ferrari had a tougher than expected qualifying in Great Britain. While both drivers managed the wet-dry conditions of Q1 to progress to Q2, Leclerc there found himself pushed into the elimination zone and will subsequently start from 11th on the grid. Sainz continued on into Q3 but, due to traffic, struggled to warm his tyres up as he left the pits for his final flying lap. With nobody behind him improving, the Spaniard held onto his position of seventh.
Charles Leclerc, 11th, 1:27.097
“Not an easy qualifying. Our main goal is assessing our situation as we have been struggling for a few weekends now.
“We did the right thing by splitting the configurations across our cars yesterday and we gained valuable insights that will be beneficial in the long term. However, by focusing on these tests, you may not optimise your weekend as a whole and that’s what happened today in qualifying.
“We are working on understanding in which direction we have to push to bounce back as soon as possible.”
Carlos Sainz, 7th, 1:26.509
“I gave it everything out there but we knew Silverstone was going to be a tough track for us. The conditions were also very tricky so qualifying today was even more challenging.
“With hindsight, I think we could have left the garage a bit earlier for the last run, as the out-lap was messy, fighting for position with other cars and the tyres were not in the right window before the last push. Anyhow, we need to keep working to try and close the gap because our performance was not great overall.
“Still, the points are given out tomorrow, so I look forward to the race, which could be interesting with the weather.”
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal
“I think today we didn’t execute qualifying well enough and that meant we were unable to put everything together. We decided to move to the old spec for today as there was more bouncing with the new one and with the high speed corners we have at Silverstone, the trade-off of fitting the new parts wasn’t positive enough.
“In Q2 there were nine cars in one tenth and the track evolved considerably. Carlos made the cut to the final part, but Charles made a mistake in turn 13 that meant he didn’t make it to Q3. The last phase was also messy as Carlos was able to put together a decent lap on his first set but then we were slowed by traffic at the second attempt and he had to fight for track positions with Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso and couldn’t prepare the tyres in the right way. “As for the race, I think that given our grid positions, if it rains then the race might be more chaotic and that could suit us better than a dry afternoon. We need to nail our strategy and execute the race perfectly if we want to bring home a decent points haul.”
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Aston Martin
With both cars reaching Q3, it was a positive day for Aston Martin at their home event. Alonso even managed to briefly be at the top of the timesheets during the opening runs of Q2 before finishing that segment in third place. However, he was unable to complete his final lap in Q3 after the traffic issues with Piastri and Sainz, meaning that the two-time world champion will start from P10. Stroll was also left feeling that more was possible after a messy final effort put him in P8. The Canadian later received a reprimand for crossing the pit exit line when the red light was on in Q1.
Fernando Alonso, 10th, 1:26.917
"It's good to have both cars make it into Q3 today after a few difficult Saturdays for the team. Unfortunately, we didn't complete the final lap in Q3 after some traffic on the out-lap with Carlos [Sainz] and Oscar [Piastri]. We managed to finish in the top three in Q2 and the pace was competitive, so I think there was a little more in it for us than tenth position in the end. Hopefully, we can be fighting for the points with both cars in tomorrow's race."
Lance Stroll, 8th, 1:26.585
"Two cars in Q3 is a strong result for us today, especially in such tough conditions. The changes we made to the car after Austria have been beneficial and seem to have made the car easier to drive. My final flying lap was a bit messy – I think we could have managed a little more – so it's a bit frustrating but the times are super close out there. This is an uplifting result for the team and we'll try and capitalise on it tomorrow. Who knows what the British weather will bring!
"In Q1, I drove out of the pit lane just as the red light appeared. I saw it at the last moment but didn't have enough time to react. I made the decision it was safer to drive slowly around the track than slam on the brakes at the end of the pit lane."
Mike Krack, Team Principal
"The drivers and the team did a good job to get both cars in the top ten today. It was not an easy session because the track was drying and improving with each lap. Lance had a decent final lap in Q3 to qualify in P8, while Fernando lost out trying to find some space ahead of his final run. He ended up with a bunch of cars ahead and had to settle for P10 so we did not maximise today. The AMR24 was more competitive here at Silverstone and the target is to score some points at our home race in front of our fans tomorrow."
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Haas
Hulkenberg only just made it through to Q1 via one flying lap on the soft tyre as the track started to dry. Things just got better from there for the German, though, as he comfortably reached Q3 before scoring the team’s best qualifying result of the season in P6. Magnussen, meanwhile, lost out somewhat in the mixed conditions of the opening segment and found himself eliminated in P17.
Nico Hulkenberg, 6th, 1:26.338
“I managed to take the momentum from last race into this week, plus I think the updates we brought to the car yesterday really had an impact and I felt a gain with them straightaway. That’s good news and it’s not always the case, so a big well done to the team. Quali was good; Q1 was a bit too close for comfort with only one lap. With the red flag, we got a little out of sync and maybe it was a bit sketchy, but otherwise it was a good, clean session. I feel good confidence in the car which means I can produce the laps, even if it’s just one.”
Kevin Magnussen, 17th, 1:32.905
“We boxed the car after I went off the track as the track was too wet I thought. Unfortunately, I didn’t know it was going to be a short little sprinkle and the track would dry up in minutes so we boxed and didn’t go out again. The track dried up and everyone improved their lap times. We’re looking to move forward of course, but I would’ve liked to be out there at the end to move through because clearly we had the pace, but once again we didn’t manage to get through, not because of pace but because of other things.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
“It’s been a pretty eventful day with pretty tricky conditions, but in FP3 I think we made progress learning about car behavior on the intermediates. In Q1 we decided not to run on the inters because we expected it to be dry, so that’s what we did. It was very tricky, we need to review what we did and how we can do it better because we just got through with Nico. Kevin didn’t get through Q1 because he went off but with Nico, we didn’t give ourselves enough margin, so that’s something we need to improve. Moving into dry conditions with Nico, what a fantastic result with P6, and that could’ve been better. He made a mistake on his flying lap in one of the corners so it’s really pleasing with all the hard work from the team getting this upgrade on and it paying off well. It’s an excellent position to start tomorrow, so we’ll see what we can do but for now, I’m happy for the team – amazing work from everyone.”
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Williams
Another team enjoying their home event at Silverstone, Williams had one of their most prosperous qualifying performances of the season so far. After both drivers navigated the conditions of Q1 to go through to Q2, Albon continued to Q3 where he equalled his best effort of the year by taking P9. While Sargeant missed out on the final segment of qualifying, the American still took a solid P12, marking his strongest qualifying of 2024.
Alex Albon, 9th, 1:26.640
"We had a great car, to be honest, and managed to hold on into Q3, with the weather keeping everyone on their toes. I think I picked up a little damage on my Q2 lap, so was slightly compromised in Q3, however, it was nothing major.
"I’m not sure if P8 was on the cards but I’m very happy. I think after a tough few races, I enjoyed that. We’ve not quite been on the pace all weekend, struggling with a certain balance limitation in the car but I think the track temperatures helped us as the tyres were able to last a bit longer.
"With potential mixed conditions tomorrow, it will be a fun race with a few different strategies so hopefully, we can fight for some good points."
Logan Sargeant, 12th, 1:27.175
"It’s been a good weekend so far considering I missed FP1 and only had a few low fuel laps before coming into Qualifying today. It’s not been easy with the constant change in conditions. Going into Quali we expected it to be wet and it just about dried for Q1.
"We had the car in a decent place throughout the session and I’m proud of the way I was able to deliver laps when it mattered. I was reasonably happy with my Q2 lap; I lost a little bit through Becketts picking up some understeer which cost me a tenth or two.
"Tomorrow looks as variable as today in terms of weather but we’re in the mix. I’ll do my homework tonight on both conditions to be ready for whatever comes.”
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director
"The weather made this afternoon’s Qualifying session probably one of the most difficult ones of this year. After starting on the Intermediate, it became clear quickly that at some point we had to change to slicks, it was just picking the right moment of when to do that final push lap.
"Both drivers drove well in their all-deciding push lap and moved into Q2. Logan came close to being in Q3 for the first time this season. A small error cost him some time but he can look back on a very good weekend so far after missing FP1 and will be looking to fight for points from his P12 starting position.
"With Alex, we managed to move into Q3 after a great lap in Q2. With P9, we are probably close to the performance of the car, but we looked competitive in our race runs on Friday, so we’ll fight hard to stay in the points tomorrow.
"The weather looks as though we’ll have more of the same as today, so it will be an interesting race with lots of opportunities."
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RB
Following a tough opening day on Friday, RB got both of their cars through Q3. However, Ricciardo struggled to get a decent lap in during Q2, leaving him down in P15. Tsunoda was slightly happier after the session in terms of how he and the team adapted to the changing conditions. The Japanese driver will line up in P13 as the team’s struggles for pace continue.
Daniel Ricciardo, 15th, 1:27.949
“I’m not particularly happy with today’s qualifying; it wasn’t a good session, and this is something we need to figure out. Both runs in Q2 didn’t go as expected, and we struggled to get the lap in, leading me to do some overtaking in the last corner, which is something I hate when people do it to me. I started my last push lap a couple of seconds behind Zhou, and with the dirty air, you’re never going to get a good lap. The last three weekends haven’t been easy, but we found a way to make it work. Coming into Silverstone with the same struggles has also added to today’s frustrations because we don’t have the luxury to be able to get things wrong. We’ll address all we need during tonight’s debrief and look ahead at the race.”
Yuki Tsunoda, 13th, 1:27.269
“I’m happy with how we handled today; the team and I worked well together and communicated during qualifying to adapt to the changing weather conditions. We knew it would be difficult coming into quali because we’ve been lacking pace throughout Free Practice, and it’s a shame we haven’t been able to quite turn it around as much as we would’ve liked to, but the field is tight, and anything can happen. We’re struggling with pace in the high-speed corners at this track, which is similar to last week, but we’ll work hard to maximise our performance tomorrow. We had good pace in the wet and we’ll adapt based on the weather conditions and communicate, that’s the key."
Jody Egginton, Technical Director
“The drivers and team worked very well to maximise Q1 which was not straight forward due to the red flag, threat of rain and gusty conditions. Q2 was a little less complicated with both cars making two runs. Daniel and Yuki both ran a double push with their first Q2 tyre sets, but it was clear at this point that progressing to Q3 was going to be difficult. Unfortunately, we didn’t put Daniel in good enough conditions for his final run in Q2 which got him caught up in a lot of traffic, altering his position for tomorrow. We find ourselves slightly back from where we want to be, but laps time deltas to the cars around us are small and the team is pushing hard to extract everything from the car.”
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Kick Sauber
Kick Sauber looked to have taken a step forwards on Saturday at Silverstone. Bottas was one of the first to bolt on the slick tyres as the track began to dry in Q1 but, as the conditions continued to change, the Finn missed out on going through to Q2 after ending the session in 16th. Zhou progressed onwards and claimed P14, marking the first time that he has outqualified Bottas since Austin in 2023.
Valtteri Bottas, 16th, 1:32.431
"We made some good calls today, so it’s disappointing to get knocked out in Q1. We were in a good position and in the top ten until the very last attempt, but sometimes it’s just like a roulette in these conditions. The rain made it very tricky, and it was a challenge to keep on track and squeeze all from the car, especially as the grip changed every lap. We were among the first to go to slicks before the red flag, and we had a good position at the top of the queue at the restart; however, conditions improved at the very end, the others could find something more and we couldn’t. Luck went against us today, but I feel we are in a better place for the race. It’s hard to say how conditions will be, but we’ll be ready for anything.”
Zhou Guanyu, 14th, 1:27.867
“It feels good to have made it into Q2 here in Silverstone, a track that suits us much better than Austria. There was a lot going on in Q1 as we experienced mixed conditions and therefore started on inters before switching to slicks. The damp track in particular suited us quite well today – where gaps appear to be even smaller – and the team did a fantastic job navigating through some unpredictable conditions. I hope we’ll experience something similar tomorrow to make up a few more positions and be in the fight for points. I’m looking forward to the race as Silverstone is a track that offers lots of overtaking opportunities. I reckon tyre management will be quite important, and there will be chances to do well.”
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative
“It may seem strange to comment positively on a session in which we finished in 14th and 16th, but today we did a step forward. In FP3, this morning, we were not there in terms of performance, especially in a perspective of fighting for a spot in Q2: we did some changes to our setup, going to a higher downforce level, and that made the car perform a lot better in qualifying. We saw Zhou being much more comfortable, and he delivered a very good lap to enter Q2. He was in a fight with the RBs and even Leclerc, cars that are usually out of our reach. Unfortunately, we lost Valtteri in Q1 by a very small margin. His first lap put him just outside the top ten, but then he had to abort both his second and third laps. It’s a shame as he had the performance to comfortably claim a spot in Q2. We need to focus on the positives: we saw a car with good balance and the team executed the session very well. We were the first to go for softs before the red flag and also positioned the car well, at the front of the line, at the restart. We can look at tomorrow’s race with confidence: conditions can be changeable and, if we execute well, we can be there in the fight for points.”
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Alpine
Given their improving form of late, it was a disappointing qualifying in Great Britain for Alpine. Ocon voiced his confusion after believing that he had an extra push lap available in Q1 before being told to abort the lap, with the Frenchman exiting the segment in P18. Gasly – who missed much of FP3 after becoming beached in the gravel – opted to do just one lap on the soft tyre in qualifying, having known prior to the session that he would start from the back of the grid due to a penalty for taking on new power unit elements.
Esteban Ocon, 18th, 1:34.557
“It was a complicated session with the drying track and stoppage for the red flag, but ultimately, we did not optimise our Qualifying today. We did not take the right decisions at the right time, and we seemed to be offset compared to the others, and not pushing when the track was probably at its best. Then there was some confusion at the end where I thought we had one more push lap and I was told to abort the lap. In the end, it is a frustrating day that we did not maximise and one that we need to review. It will be a difficult race tomorrow given our starting position. We will try our best to move forward, especially if the weather stays like it is with changeable conditions.”
Pierre Gasly, 20th, 1:39.804
“We knew ahead of the weekend we were going to start the race from P20, as we had to take a penalty eventually and it is good that we get it out of the way. It was not a very exciting session for me – I did a single lap on Softs and with the track conditions improving we did not want to take any risks today. For me, the weekend will start tomorrow, we will attack where we can and hopefully be able to fight our way back to the top ten and continue our positive streak over the past couple of races. But we also know the conditions here are very tricky and we have seen how easy it is to get off track here. At the same time, those conditions could make the race tomorrow quite interesting, and it could help us fight our way back and gain positions.”
Bruno Famin, Team Principal
“We have not been good enough today from an operational standpoint. With the changeable conditions it was crucial to push and set a time when the track was at its best and we missed the optimum window. We knew with Pierre there was little to gain today with the grid penalties for tomorrow, so we did not take any unnecessary risks. For Esteban, the timing was tight at the end for the chequered flag, and we missed the opportunity to improve on his time. We will go away and review what happened and try to avoid similar scenarios happening in future. It will be a long race tomorrow and we will review how best to approach the race from our starting position and give ourselves a chance of progressing through the field.”
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Pirelli
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director
“It was a very exciting qualifying and provided a crowd-pleasing result with three British drivers in the top three places. In conditions pretty similar to those experienced in last year’s qualifying here, we saw that times have come down by around one second, confirming how much car development has moved on from one year to the next, given that the tyres are completely identical to those used at Silverstone in 2023. Then, when one considers that the grip level on the track surface was definitely not at its best after so much rain had fallen during the day, one can surmise that the cars might have been even quicker!
“Tomorrow, the great unknown will be the weather. If, as forecast, it should rain and the track is wet throughout as was the case in FP3, all the teams have sufficient sets of Intermediates and Wets to run a two-stop race. However, if it’s dry, then a one-stop is quickest on paper, with all three compounds being viable. The C3/C2 strategy is slightly quicker than going from the C3 to the C1, while a strategy without the Soft gives greater flexibility.”
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