Mixing
British Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton takes pole with new Silverstone track record
7th July 2018,
==
LEWIS HAMILTON took pole position for the British Grand Prix with a sensational flying lap to see off Sebastian Vettel today.
The Mercedes ace drew first blood in qualifying before Vettel struck back, only for Hamilton to leave it late.
He produced a brilliant last-ditch effort to eclipse Vettel's total by 0.044seconds to take front spot for tomorrow's race.
It was a new track record for Silverstone, plus a record sixth pole in the British Grand Prix, which Hamilton will now look to convert into a sixth British GP win, also a record.
Emotional Hamilton, who took his 76th pole of his career, said: "I gave it everything I could. It was so close between these Ferraris, the Ferraris just pulled something out when it got to Q3 and I was just praying I could do it for the fans.
"I'm so grateful for the support because without you guys I wouldn't have been able to do it."
Vettel, who was a doubt to actually take part in qualifying due to a neck injury, had to settle for second place.
He added: "I had a bit of an issue [with my neck] in practice but it was fine in qualy.
"I was very happy with the last lap but we seem to lose a lot of time in the straights. I'm happy with second and it gives us a good chance for tomorrow."
Kimi Raikkonen completed the qualifying podium in third place in his Ferrari, but the Finn thought he could have made it into the top two.
He said: "I had a chance to be faster but I locked the wheel on the last lap, but that's how it goes.
"Our car should be good tomorrow, it will not be an easy race with the tyres but we are aiming for the top for sure."
Sauber's rookie Charles Leclerc continued to underline his potential with another strong performance and will start in ninth place on the grid for the Swiss minnows.
However, there will be fresh doubts about Stoffel Vandoorne's future in F1 after he was again totally out-classed by his McLaren team-mate, Fernando Alonso.
While the two-time world champion qualified in 13th place, the Belgian was eliminated in Q1 and qualified down in 17th.
It means Alonso has now smashed Vandoorne 10-0 on Saturdays this year, an unforgivable record.
Williams also had another disastrous day at the track to leave the once all-conquering team hugely embarrassed at their home race.
First, under-pressure Lance Stroll carelessly lost control of his car and spun off after three and a half minutes of Q1.
The Canadian, who is bankrolled by his billionaire father, inexplicably lost control at Brooklands Corner and spun off into the gravel.
And then his Russian team-mate Sergey Sirotkin suffered another suspicious spin when his car lost control and rotated 180 degrees.
Although the Russian was able to make it back to the team's garage he had one crack at a flying lap but was hopelessly off the pace.
The Williams duo start in 18th and 19th place while the final spot on the grid belongs to Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley.
The New Zealander suffered a scary crash while travelling at 200mph when the front suspension of his car shattered, sending him into a terrifying spin.
Hartley was sent straight to the medical centre for a check-up and was cleared by the doctors but his mechanics were unable to fix his car in time for qualifying and will now start at the back.
- British Grand Prix at Silverstone is on Sunday at 1pm. Tickets are available on the gate.
LEWIS HAMILTON took pole position for the British Grand Prix with a sensational flying lap to see off Sebastian Vettel today.
==
Comments
Post a Comment