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F1 Silverstone LIVE: Reaction after Hamilton takes British GP sprint pole
Live coverage of Friday at the F1 British Grand Prix
KEY MOMENTS
- Drivers divided over Lego parade lap
- Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren bring upgrades; Mercedes does not
- Super-clipping expected to be a major issue
The ninth round of the 2026 Formula 1 season takes place at the British Grand Prix.
Silverstone hosted the first official F1 Grand Prix in 1950 and continues to be a firm favourite of both drivers and fans in the modern era.
However, drivers have been open about their fears that a lack of heavy braking zones around the typically high-speed layout could result in drivers coasting through iconic corners like Maggots and Becketts in order to recharge their batteries, rather than testing the absolute limits of grip. Super-clipping has not been an issue of late, but Silverstone was always earmarked as one of the most energy-starved venues on the calendar.
A bizarre dispute is also taking place in regard to Sunday’s parade lap, which will take place in Lego go-karts, with each driver having their own vehicle. Whilst some are all for it and are eager to get going, such as Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas, there are others who are less excited about the prospect, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both voicing concern, and the former suggesting he does not intend to take part.
Fresh off the back of his victory at the Red Bull Ring, George Russell is keen to add to his points haul with a first win on home soil, following Hamilton and Lando Norris, who have raised the British flag on the podium for the last two years.
The weekend sees the return of the Sprint Race format, meaning that a single practice session will take place before Sprint Qualifying on Friday. Saturday will see the Sprint Race contested first, before normal programming is resumed, with Qualifying. The Grand Prix will start at 3pm BST on Sunday.
2026 British Grand Prix Friday schedule
FP1 12:30pm BST – 1:30pm BST
Sprint Qualifying: 4:30pm BST – 5:14pm BST
Thank you for joining us for all the Friday action from Silverstone, and we hope you’ll return again tomorrow as Lewis Hamilton attempts to convert sprint pole into a victory. Until then, keep up to date with all the latest F1 news on Crash.net.
Thank you, and see you tomorrow!
“It was actually a lot more than I thought, because only [ahead of] the final run we managed to fix it.
“The guys did a good job on fixing it for the final run, but the car was just completely different and way better again.
“It felt pretty shocking for most of it. I’m just lucky that we managed to fix it because it felt like a completely different car. But by the time I got the feeling for the final lap, I felt like I could have just pushed way more, so a little bit unfortunate today.”
Verstappen recovered from a difficult practice to set a surprise third place effort.
Asked if he can take the fight to Hamilton and Antonelli on Saturday, he said: “They look a bit quick. They look quick, so normally, teammate-related, they should be quick also in race pace if everything calms down a little bit.
“So, for me, I think it will be more of a battle with the guys behind me.”
“I mean, it’s kind of the story of the year to be honest, always on the back foot,” said Russell.
“Usually, come Q3, [we] can generally make a step. Today, [that was] not quite the case. It was very close to P3, but [we were] still very much off the pace of Lewis and Kimi. So, we need to try and understand why that is. It’s strange.”
“It was so, so close and it was a shame,” said Antonelli. “In Q1, I felt a bit bad, I didn’t feel great in the car, but then we made a slight balance adjust and SQ2 felt night and day and we suddenly were back in the pace.
“SQ3 was a little bit left on the table, but it was a decent lap. It was super close to Lewis, but of course, congrats to him, and on our side, we’ll focus on tomorrow now.
Earlier in the weekend, Hamilton described his chances of winning this weekend as “impossible”.
Those odds must have shrunk somewhat.
“I love this place. I love this crowd,” said Hamilton.
“I’m grateful to get that pole. I was quick through all the session, but still last, you know, it’s only ten milliseconds or something like that, so, it’s very close to these guys and, the team really deserves it, so big big thank you to everyone here.”
2026 F1 Silverstone: Full British GP Sprint Qualifying and Friday practice results
Lewis Hamilton has taken his third sprint qualifying pole position, and will start at the front of the grid on Saturday.
The Ferrari driver has been on top form at Silverstone this weekend, and dominated sprint qualifying on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton beats Kimi Antonelli to Silverstone F1 sprint pole at British GP
Lewis Hamilton pipped the Mercedes of Formula 1 championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli to claim pole position for the British Grand Prix sprint race.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton continued his blistering practice pace in sprint qualifying to top each of the three sessions and outpace Antonelli by just 0.011 seconds in a one-lap shootout in SQ3.
Full report here…
The top 10 in sprint qualifying are:
- Hamilton
- Antonelli
- Verstappen
- Leclerc
- Russell
- Norris
- Piastri
- Hadjar
- Lawson
- Lindblad
Russell can only manage P5. Hamilton has done it!
But here is Hamilton! A 1m28.376s for Hamilton! He will start the sprint race from pole position for the third time!
Antonelli puts in a 1m28.387s! Leclerc is second.
Warm-up laps done. This is it.
But here we go. Piastri is out first, and the rest are all now filtering out.
We’re over halfway through the eight minutes and the track remains silent.
SQ3 is underway, and there’s no rush to head out early in the eight-minute session.
After Norris suffered some brake duct damage in SQ1, the team is now battling to fix the damage before his one run in SQ3. All drivers must run the soft tyres.
The six drivers dropping out in SQ2 are:
11. Gasly
12. Bortoleto
13. Hulkenberg
14. Colapinto
15. Sainz
16. Albon
Russell improves to P7 with an effort that still trails Antonelli by half a second. But he is safe.
Russell is one of few drivers improving as the flag falls on SQ2.
What a lap from Lawson! He has been flying lately, and puts his Racing Bulls into P4! Lindblad goes to P8. Neither Alpine escapes the bottom six.
Lawson, Gasly, Lindblad, and Colapinto are running in the gap between runs for the rest of the pack, and they will shortly start what is likely to be their one and only effort.
Ferrari hit in the times again. A half-second gain for Hamilton, who delivers a 1m28.747s. Leclerc was second, but Antonelli split the pair.
Russell is again nowhere with his lap. Improving by just two-tenths from SQ1, he is down in P8.
A 1m29.242s for Verstappen and, like Hulkenberg, he improves by around four-tenths.
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KEY MOMENTS
- Drivers divided over Lego parade lap
- Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren bring upgrades; Mercedes does not
- Super-clipping expected to be a major issue
The ninth round of the 2026 Formula 1 season takes place at the British Grand Prix.
Silverstone hosted the first official F1 Grand Prix in 1950 and continues to be a firm favourite of both drivers and fans in the modern era.
However, drivers have been open about their fears that a lack of heavy braking zones around the typically high-speed layout could result in drivers coasting through iconic corners like Maggots and Becketts in order to recharge their batteries, rather than testing the absolute limits of grip. Super-clipping has not been an issue of late, but Silverstone was always earmarked as one of the most energy-starved venues on the calendar.
A bizarre dispute is also taking place in regard to Sunday’s parade lap, which will take place in Lego go-karts, with each driver having their own vehicle. Whilst some are all for it and are eager to get going, such as Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas, there are others who are less excited about the prospect, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both voicing concern, and the former suggesting he does not intend to take part.
Fresh off the back of his victory at the Red Bull Ring, George Russell is keen to add to his points haul with a first win on home soil, following Hamilton and Lando Norris, who have raised the British flag on the podium for the last two years.
The weekend sees the return of the Sprint Race format, meaning that a single practice session will take place before Sprint Qualifying on Friday. Saturday will see the Sprint Race contested first, before normal programming is resumed, with Qualifying. The Grand Prix will start at 3pm BST on Sunday.
2026 British Grand Prix Friday schedule
FP1 12:30pm BST – 1:30pm BST
Sprint Qualifying: 4:30pm BST – 5:14pm BST
KEY MOMENTS
- Drivers divided over Lego parade lap
- Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren bring upgrades; Mercedes does not
- Super-clipping expected to be a major issue
The ninth round of the 2026 Formula 1 season takes place at the British Grand Prix.
Silverstone hosted the first official F1 Grand Prix in 1950 and continues to be a firm favourite of both drivers and fans in the modern era.
However, drivers have been open about their fears that a lack of heavy braking zones around the typically high-speed layout could result in drivers coasting through iconic corners like Maggots and Becketts in order to recharge their batteries, rather than testing the absolute limits of grip. Super-clipping has not been an issue of late, but Silverstone was always earmarked as one of the most energy-starved venues on the calendar.
A bizarre dispute is also taking place in regard to Sunday’s parade lap, which will take place in Lego go-karts, with each driver having their own vehicle. Whilst some are all for it and are eager to get going, such as Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas, there are others who are less excited about the prospect, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both voicing concern, and the former suggesting he does not intend to take part.
Fresh off the back of his victory at the Red Bull Ring, George Russell is keen to add to his points haul with a first win on home soil, following Hamilton and Lando Norris, who have raised the British flag on the podium for the last two years.
The weekend sees the return of the Sprint Race format, meaning that a single practice session will take place before Sprint Qualifying on Friday. Saturday will see the Sprint Race contested first, before normal programming is resumed, with Qualifying. The Grand Prix will start at 3pm BST on Sunday.
2026 British Grand Prix Friday schedule
FP1 12:30pm BST – 1:30pm BST
Sprint Qualifying: 4:30pm BST – 5:14pm BST
[analyse_source url=”http://crash.net/f1/live/1044258/f1-silverstone-live-british-gp-practice-and-sprint-qualifying-updates”]