What the teams said – Sprint Qualifying in Great Britain

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Hamilton had indicated that Ferrari would struggle with Silverstone's long straights, but there was no sign of that across the opening day of action. Instead, the nine-time British Grand Prix winner looked fast from word go and wound up topping FP1. He carried that form straight into Sprint Qualifying, finishing fastest in SQ1 and SQ2. Come SQ3, the soft tyres went on and he was still the man to beat, winding up ahead of both Mercedes cars as he just about pipped Antonelli to pole. Leclerc got closer, winding up fourth, but has not been a match for his team mate at Silverstone so far. "It’s always special coming back to this track that I love so much, and taking pole for the Sprint here is a really special feeling. Huge thanks to the team for the job they’ve done today, and to all the fans in the grandstands… your support is something else. Looking at the gap to Kimi (Antonelli), I’d like to think it was the fans' energy that gave me that extra hundredth. We didn’t expect to be this competitive here, so a lot of credit has to go to everyone in team here and back at the factory who keep pushing and delivering improvements step by step. We’re making real progress, and that’s down to all the hard work going on behind the scenes. Our long-run pace looked solid too, though tomorrow will be a real challenge with how closely matched everyone is at the front." "I was quite confident coming into Q3, but I was just missing that final bit to really take the car to the limit on every lap. We didn’t expect to be as competitive as we have shown to be today on a track like this, so it’s a positive. Let’s see what we can do in the Sprint tomorrow and then focus on qualifying." "Congratulations to Lewis and to the whole team on today's result. In a Sprint weekend, the preparation work done back in Maranello is even more important than usual, so I would like to thank everyone who worked so hard before we arrived here. It's the ideal way for Lewis to start his home weekend, but we know we haven't achieved anything yet. Charles is also in a good position, and tomorrow's Sprint will give us some important indications for the rest of the weekend. Our objective is to score plenty of points in the Sprint and then immediately switch our full focus to qualifying for the Grand Prix, with the aim of securing another solid result." 0/2Next imageMercedes Antonelli was quick straight away at Silverstone, trading the top spot with Hamilton for much of practice. Russell was not on the form of his team mate and wound up nearly half a second behind the teenager. He could not find a way to close that gap between sessions, coming out in Sprint Qualifying and winding up with a similar deficit. That left Antonelli to fight Hamilton for pole and he came close, winding up just 0.011s back. "Sprint Qualifying was incredibly close and it's frustrating to miss out on pole by such a small margin. I didn't feel completely comfortable in the car during SQ1, but then SQ2 felt like night and day difference. The balance came to me much more and I was able to get back into the rhythm and show the pace we had. "My lap in SQ3 was a solid but Lewis did a great job, so congratulations to him. We can be happy with the progress we made throughout the session and now the focus is fully on tomorrow. It’s clear that Ferrari, and the rest of the competition, have made a lot of progress so we know we’re in for a real fight. That’s exactly the sort of challenge we enjoy though; we have the opportunity to fight for the Sprint win, and we'll be going for it. We know we have all the ingredients we need to have a strong race and we'll do everything we can to maximise the result." "We've often managed to find a step when it comes to the final part of qualifying, but unfortunately that wasn't the case today. We weren’t too far off P3, but we were still lacking a bit of pace compared to Kimi (Antonelli) and Lewis (Hamilton), so we need to understand where we can improve. The car didn't feel too bad and the balance was reasonably good but ultimately the lap time just wasn't there when it mattered. "I was a little bit surprised by Ferrari’s pace as, on paper, this wouldn’t necessarily be their strongest circuit. Clearly, they have made a strong step forward and they looked competitive throughout the day. They had the upper hand from the first session onwards, so we've got some work to do overnight to see if we can close that gap and put ourselves in the fight tomorrow." Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director "Today has been frustrating on our side. We've had a good run of landing the start set-up in a decent place in recent races, but it has felt like we've been on the back foot today. Over the course of the sessions, we've been making changes to put more stability into the car but even by the SQ3 of Sprint Qualifying, it still felt that the front was still too strong, which is not what you need when it's so gusty. "On top of that, we have a speed difference that we need to understand that was costing us a decent amount of time on the straights. We can't make changes ahead of the Sprint tomorrow but we're working hard to get on top of these issues and find a better compromise with the set-up ahead of Grand Prix Qualifying tomorrow." 0/2Next imageRed Bull Hadjar started his weekend right on the pace of his team mate, which was encouraging for Red Bull. In fact, he seemed the happier of the two drivers as the team showed genuine pace on the hard tyre in practice. They looked strong on the mediums in SQ1 and SQ2 too, which bodes well for the Sprint and the Grand Prix, but once the softs went on Verstappen came to the fore. He couldn’t quite make it to the front row, but P3 is still a strong performance and shows Austria was not an anomaly for the team but rather indicates their upgrades are working well. “Sprint Qualifying was close, particularly the outcome of SQ3. We’ve struggled a bit with cornering on this track today and have been trying to figure out deployment, but we’re on the good side of Qualifying, so hope to find some good pace tomorrow. We’re getting closer but we’re still not quite where we want to be, but we’re hoping to put up a good fight tomorrow." “It's very close out there. Finishing at the bottom of the top four is a little disappointing, as there was more in the car than that. I felt like I missed out on third. I wasn't quick enough on that final lap, so I want to work out where it went wrong. I know I didn't have the best start to the lap, which cost me a bit of time, but there are a few other things I want to analyse. It's only a tenth to P3, so I know I'm close, but that also makes it a bit more frustrating. I can be happy with my driving overall today and feel like I've been on it, so if I can tidy a few things up, we'll get there."  Pierre Wache, Technical Director “The Silverstone layout is completely different to last week in Austria. Temperatures are lower, and the wind is stronger, so it's presented us with new circumstances to deal with. Around a track like this, deployment is critical, so we have to learn from today and carry that into the weekend. We learned a few things in FP1 and made progress, but there's still room for improvement heading into Qualifying. There are things we need to work on from our side, so we'll look into that overnight."  0/2Next imageMcLaren Piastri looked the pick of the two McLaren drivers in practice, despite spinning at one point. He was also the fastest of the duo through the early parts of Sprint Qualifying, Norris hampered in SQ2 by losing a part of his bodywork. The team managed to complete some work on his car between the segments, and he found his form late on to beat his team mate, but McLaren could only book sixth and seventh – although the gaps did close. “An unfortunate day for us in Sprint Qualifying. We had an issue in SQ1 that made the car feel completely different. The team did a great job to fix it just before SQ3, but by the time I got a true feeling for its potential on the final lap, it was too late. I felt I could have pushed way more, so it's a shame we couldn't show our true pace. We know the speed is there and we'll work to understand what we can improve for the race. “The support from the fans in Landostand and across Silverstone has been incredible and seeing them all out there is a huge boost. We think we can be competitive with the cars around us. It will be a difficult fight, but you never know what can happen, and we'll be giving it everything to have a better day and put on a good show for the home crowd.” “P7 is more or less what we expected. We knew coming into Sprint Qualifying that we probably weren't in the fight for the very front, and while we made some small improvements to the car after practice, it just wasn't enough to close the gap to the leaders. It’s a shame because I felt like we were on it and got everything we could out of the car, but we've just not had the fundamental pace. “It was a tricky day, but we aren’t discouraged. We ended up close to that next group of cars, which gives us something to work with. We'll analyse everything overnight, see what we can optimise, and be ready to push hard and fight for a better result in Qualifying tomorrow before the main race on Sunday.” Randy Singh, Senior Director, Racing “It was another incredibly tight session today, which we're seeing more and more, where the final positions come down to milliseconds. I think the team did a good job to improve the car from where we were in the earlier practice session, and we definitely gained some performance. We know where we need to improve and we’ll keep pushing to turn that potential into results. “On Lando's side, we were unfortunately set back by some damage to a front brake duct, but the crew did a fantastic job to get the car repaired and out for SQ3. The competitive field means there are plenty of opportunities in the Sprint, and with the chance to make further setup changes, we are focused on extracting that extra bit of performance to move ourselves up the grid for the Grand Prix.” 0/2Next imageRacing Bulls Racing Bulls continued their recent run of form, once again getting two cars into the top 10. Lawson wound up ahead in the intra-team battle, with Lindblad impressing on home soil. With points on offer for the top eight in the Sprint both need a good start to try and score, but they are certainly in the mix and, crucially, ahead of their midfield rivals. "This is another fantastic team result with both cars making it into SQ3. It wasn’t the easiest day on my side as we experienced a few deployment issues in SQ1, but the team did a great job of fixing them in time for SQ2. I didn’t feel particularly competitive on my final push lap in SQ3, so I’ll review it with the team to understand why, as I struggled to find the grip I needed. Now the focus shifts to tomorrow, I think the Sprint for us will be an important opportunity to gather valuable information ahead of Sunday’s race and hopefully in Quali we can be a bit closer to the top teams on a single push lap." "The car has felt really good all day and we've barely changed anything, so it's a strong position to be starting from tomorrow. It wasn't super warm today, so you need energy to put temperature into the tyres without spending too much before starting your lap. It's therefore very different here when compared to other tracks previously, but the team has done a great job to get us in a good place today. We'll of course be fighting for points tomorrow before pushing for a strong Quali." Mattia Spini, Head of Trackside Engineering "Silverstone presented us with a different set of challenges compared to recent events, with cooler track temperatures, stiffer tyre compounds and some wind to manage. Combined with the Sprint weekend format, this made FP1 particularly important, as clean a quality running was key to preparing properly for the competitive sessions. "Overall, FP1 went to plan. Both drivers were able to complete useful programmes and set competitive lap times, although the gaps to our main competitors were very tight." 0/2Next imageAlpine Gasly struggled in practice, winding up down the order in a car which he said did not feel good to drive. The team made improvements between the sessions, and the Frenchman came close to making the top 10 – missing out by less than a tenth of a second. Colapinto had initially looked the quicker of the two Alpine drivers, but his form faded in SQ2 and he wound up a few places further back. “Overall, P11 is not where we want to be, but it is just a reflection of where we are at the moment; close but not quite fast enough for the top 10. I would say P11 for today is quite positive, especially considering how we started the day as Free Practice 1 was a difficult session for us. The car felt different and much more normal in Sprint Qualifying, so we need to work to understand why that was the case. My laps in Sprint Qualifying were good, the car felt good and I was fairly confident behind the wheel. Racing Bulls look strong again and we need to find a way to up our game and stay in the battle with them. It is only the beginning of the weekend, though, and I know we can find improvements for tomorrow. I have a few ideas where we can be better, so the aim is to implement that tomorrow and try to have a positive Saturday at Silverstone.” Franco Colapinto, 14th, 1:29.983 “I'm a bit disappointed with the result from Sprint Qualifying and expected more after how the car felt earlier in the day. We started the day well, but we still knew we needed to make some positive steps to get the best out of the package. We made a few changes to try and improve but it didn't translate and made the car more unpredictable to drive. That's the nature of a Sprint weekend, that you're always trying and testing things in competitive sessions. We couldn't put the car in a stable place to carry confidence through the high-speed sections, which there are a lot of here at Silverstone. We have a lot of work to do tonight to understand what changes we need to make to get back to a better place and better feeling with the car. We will do our best in the Sprint to gather more data and make changes tomorrow for Qualifying once we can work on the car.” 0/2Next imageAudi Audi focused on their medium tyre running at the end of practice, with a view to being strong in SQ2 and making the top 10. They came close, but ultimately did not have the pace. Bortoleto was the intra-team fight winner, pipping his team mate by 0.028s as both extracted pretty much everything the car had out there. Nico Hulkenberg, 13th, 1:29.707 "It was a fairly clean Sprint Qualifying session, but I don't think we quite maximised everything today. The conditions were a bit windier and gustier than they were this morning, and it felt like that affected us a little more than some of our rivals. We also took a slightly different approach with our run plan, so we'll go away and review everything overnight to understand where we can improve ahead of tomorrow's qualifying session." Gabriel Bortoleto, 12th, 1:29.679 "I think it's been a solid Friday in the office. We got quite close to fighting for SQ3 today, which is of course encouraging and further proves the steps we've been making. Obviously, it's only the second session of the weekend, so there's still some areas where we can improve and do better. Let's see what we can achieve tomorrow, starting with the Sprint and then going into Qualifying." "Sprint weekends always present an extra challenge because you have to condense all your preparation into a single free practice session while also keeping an eye on the rest of the weekend. Overall, our performance in FP1 was in line with our expectations and showed we had the potential to challenge for the top ten in Sprint Qualifying. We came through SQ1 comfortably, but neither car managed to put together the cleanest lap in SQ2, which ultimately left us 12th and 13th on the grid. That's slightly below where we felt we could have been, but there's still plenty to play for. Our focus now is on maximising tomorrow's Sprint before resetting for Grand Prix qualifying later in the day." 0/2Next imageWilliams Williams are sporting a new front wing in Silverstone, which they tested against the older counterpart in practice. Come Sprint Qualifying, both drivers put in strong laps late on in SQ1 to make it to SQ2 but they could go no further, Sainz beating Albon in the end to P15. The Williams remains a little overweight which is not helping, but at least they have more data about that front wing, which they will hope helps them with race pace this weekend. “A small step forward this weekend, maybe smaller than we would have liked, with the new front wing - and it seems to be working well, helping us out-qualify both Haas cars. Unfortunately, we're still off the pace of the top 10, but we'll keep pushing. Today's lap was probably one of the best ones of the season, putting everything together, so I'll take that with me and see what we can do from here the rest of the weekend." “That’s Friday practice and Sprint qualifying wrapped up here at Silverstone. I struggled a bit on my last run in SQ2, but that was the most we could manage today. The new front wing was a step forward for us, and that difference was what put us in front of the Haas cars today, so hopefully there’s more to come in the Sprint tomorrow. It's still not easy to get the car into the right window, and our weaknesses are the same, but we're making small steps in the right direction." “It's good to see we've made a step with the update package, but obviously there's a long way to go. All the other teams around us are equally moving at pace, and we have to out-develop them. We can see now the balance is more together, and the car through the corners has improved. But yet to be understood is that we seem to be losing quite a bit of time on the straights. We need to understand that in more detail because that will unlock the next step of performance. We have some things to try and we will attack the rest of the weekend." 0/2Next imageHaas Bearman told the media that Haas have been out-developed by their midfield rivals of late, and the American outfit continued to struggle for one-lap pace to rather prove the Briton’s point. Neither Haas driver could escape SQ1 at Silverstone, with Bearman the pick of the duo. Their Sprint looks to be a battle with Williams, as they learn more about their car in a bid to improve for Qualifying tomorrow. “It’s a shame as I think if everything went well, we would’ve been through, but I started the lap with low battery – only by 10 percent, but still at this track where it’s so sensitive, that more than covers the gap to get through. Unfortunately, we’re battling Williams to get out of SQ1, which is not where we were a couple of months ago, so it shows that we need to keep working to make a big step forward. We brought an updated rear wing, and it seems to be working as expected, but everyone around us that we’re competing with has brought more, and that’s it – it’s a sign of where we are. We don’t have any big updates coming before summer break, so I expect the next few races to be a big push. It’s a shame, but it’s how it is.” “It was a difficult session. In FP1 we started to see that we were lacking pace overall, and I think it was slightly worse in terms of the overall classification in Sprint Qualifying. It's difficult to assess exactly where we're losing at the moment, but this is the performance we've got, and now we need to keep pushing. This is what the whole team is going to do this weekend, and we'll try to get the maximum out of the car. Hopefully tomorrow we can improve further to qualify closer to the points.” “Obviously, it’s been a tough day with a tough result, but unfortunately, it’s reflective of where we are with this car, at least today. In Austria, we struggled, but in low-speed we were competitive, but when we got to high-speed we were missing performance. Here, if you look at SQ1, it wasn’t a bad lap from our drivers. On the out-lap, we struggled a bit with traffic, therefore energy deployment wasn’t the best, but putting that aside, we’re not quick in any speed of corner here. We know some of the reasons why, and we’re working in the background with the team at the factory on it. The trackside team, following on from last weekend, did a decent job, so we just need to focus on what we can do best with what we’re given. Meanwhile, at the factory, we’re trying to improve the car as quickly as possible. It’s a tough time, but that’s racing, and it’s Formula 1 – it’s not easy. We have to go through this tough period by sticking together and improve the car, as we have done the last two years.” 0/2Next imageCadillac Cadillac are running a striking special livery this weekend, which looked good out on track on what was a trouble-free day for the American outfit. Both drivers managed a good haul of laps as they continue to learn about their latest upgrades, bolted on in Austria. Perez wound up the faster of the two team mates, and interestingly he was just 0.062s off Ocon’s pace in the Haas. That shows that Cadillac are starting to climb into the fight with the lower midfield teams, which is a fairly decent result considering they are just eight full weekends into their F1 career. “It was a tricky one today. Right now we are focusing on maximising what we are able to do, and from where we were in FP1 to the end of Quali we showed a good step. The car was a little bit more neutral on the balance with the wind and it was close to Esteban [Ocon], but in the end I had a bit of traffic through Turn 4 and an issue with energy deployment. I don’t think getting into SQ2 was possible today, but the good thing is that we are making progress and now looking forward to some more track running in the Sprint tomorrow.” Valtteri Bottas, 20th, 1:32.020 “On a single lap we’re still in this position between Aston and the midfield. It’s a different way of driving around here with these cars but it’s better than I thought and Silverstone has always been a super track. We’ll see how the Sprint goes tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a better read on the upgrade we brought in Austria as we only did two laps in the last race.” “This weekend has been more straightforward in terms of preparation. We were able to run our program this morning to analyse tyre and energy management around this track and, while we still have some work to do, we understand the direction and how to improve. Both Valtteri and Checo did a great job. We’ll look to have a clean race tomorrow and make progress where and when we can.” 0/2Next imageAston Martin Aston Martin are awaiting their first big upgrade package, due to be added to the car in Hungary. As such, they did not expect to be competitive and so it proved. Their drivers wound up propping up the field, with Alonso narrowly ahead of Stroll. The Sprint will serve as a good data gathering exercise for the team at their home race, as they try to take the fight to Cadillac for Grand prix Qualifying later on tomorrow. Fernando Alonso, 21st, 1:32.910 “It wasn’t a surprise for us today and it was difficult for us to optimise everything with just one practice session. I was happy with the laps in Sprint Qualifying and we did a good job as a team, but it’s still far away from where we want to be. We will see what we can do tomorrow in the Sprint.” “It's going to be another challenging weekend here at Silverstone. We'll focus on what we can control, but we know we've just got to be patient and wait for the upgrades to come. We all keep pushing hard, both at track and over the road at the AMRTC.” 0/2Next imagePirelli Dario Marrafuschi, Pirelli Motorsport Director "The Silverstone weekend has got underway in line with expectations on the tyre front, while the home crowd enjoyed a welcome surprise thanks to a British favourite securing Sprint pole position. The first part of the sole hour of free practice allowed teams to become familiar with the C1, a compound that, prior to Silverstone, had only been used at Suzuka. The C2 and C3, on the other hand, were mainly used for performance runs, enabling teams to gather useful data ahead of the rest of the weekend. "In both of today’s sessions, degradation proved to be in line with our expectations, and the initial performance delta observed between Medium and Soft, at equal fuel loads, was around four tenths, approximately a tenth less than indicated by simulations. It will be interesting to see tomorrow which compounds come into play in the Sprint race, because, at this stage, even the Soft appears capable of being among the competitive options, particularly for those starting from the second half of the grid." F1FacebookXInstagramYouTube© 2003-2026 Formula One World Championship Limited