It was classic British weather at Silverstone for qualifying as mixed conditions greeted drivers.
Q1
When qualifying started, it was a mix of softs and inters. The Ferraris, Haas’ and Logan Sargeant went for the intermediate.
George Russell did a 1:35.257 to kick things off in qualifying. Behind him, Lewis Hamilton was on quicker lap but spun at Stowe as he lost the rear on entry. Although he reached the gravel, Hamilton escaped from it.
A 1:33.535 from Max Verstappen put him fastest after the first runs, but that would be smashed as a 1:31.437 from Alonso put him over 2 seconds clear briefly.
Halfway through the session, Russell led Alonso, Leclerc, Verstappen, Ocon, Norris, Sainz, Sargeant, Bottas and Hamilton.
In the relegation zone was Gasly, Magnussen, Hülkenberg, Perez and Piastri.
Alonso went even quicker on a 1:30.790, before Max Verstappen responded by beating that by 0.011s. Leclerc, Russell and Ocon completed the top 5 with six minutes remaining.
Guanyu, Magnussen, Sargeant, Albon and Hülkenberg found themselves in the relegation zone.
Sargeant had a code brown moment through Maggots and Becketts as he lost the rear and had a brief airborne moment through the grass.
A red flag was thrown with 3:11 remaining as the Haas of Kevin Magnussen stopped at Stowe. His car completely broke down as he turned into it.
A replay showed Esteban Ocon almost crashing into a slow moving Zhou Guanyu through the same section as Sargeant’s moment, while Nyck de Vries will also be under investigation after the session for an unsafe release into the path of Oscar Piastri.
Before the session resumed, Pérez found himself down in 14th and just above the elimination zone.
It became a question of who would join Magnussen in departing at the end of Q1.
World Champion Max Verstappen had a bizarre moment as he hit the pitwall coming out of his garage and slightly damaging his front wing.
The track was clearly drier and a 1:29.968 from Sergio Pérez showed it. However, everyone behind was improving and the Mexican found himself down in P16 after all the laps were completed.
Home hero Lando Norris completed a hectic final 90 seconds by going fastest in Q1 on a 1:28.917. The British youngster was the only one to dip below 89s. Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton and Verstappen rounded out the top 5.
Both Williams drivers improved massively as Albon and Sargeant safely made it through in P7 and P13.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso barely made it through in 15th as he got though by 0.019s.
Joining Pérez in getting knocked out were Tsunoda, Guanyu, De Vries and Magnussen.
In P11 was Valtteri Bottas but he stopped on circuit after the chequered flag fell and couldn’t take part in Q2.
Q2
The Aston of Alonso started things off in Q2 as he logged a 1:30.660.
Once again it was Lando Norris who put in a strong first lap as a 1:29.427 put him ahead of Gasly and Verstappen by less than a tenth. Piastri, Sainz and Ocon also got within 0.2s of the Brit.
Russell, Leclerc, Hülkenberg and Hamilton completed the top 10 with nine minutes to go.
A tentative first attempt from Alonso paid off as the knowledge gained allowed the Spaniard to jump to 1st on his second flier with a 1:29.052. Albon and Leclerc also made excellent gains to jump into the top 3.
Hülkenberg, Hamilton, Stroll, Sargeant and Bottas found themselves in the bottom five with six minutes left.
The times continued to tumble as a 1:28.567 from Piastri put him 0.003s clear of Verstappen. Hamilton then usurped that by 0.022s.
A stonking 1:28.042 from Lando Norris put him over 0.5s clear of Hamilton as it was a British 1-2-5 with three minutes left.
Ocon, Hülkenberg, Stroll and Sargeant needed big laps to try and escape the bottom five.
Ultimately the World Champion delivered at the end as a 1:27.702 put him fastest from Piastri, Norris and Albon in a sensational effort form McLaren and Williams.
Sainz, Leclerc, Alonso, Hamilton, Gasly and Russell also booked their spots in Q3.
Hülkenberg missed out by 0.018s as he put in another strong effort for Haas. Stroll, Ocon and Sargeant also dropped out with the unfortunate Bottas.
Q3
Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton pumped in a 1:27.717 to go P1. It looked rapid until Max Verstappen smashed it by over 0.6s as a 1:27.084 put the Dutchman out of sight.
Hamilton, Piastri and Leclerc were covered by just 0.043s as the battle for P2 looked incredibly close.
Sainz, Alonso, Albon, Gasly, Russell and Norris rounded out the top 10 ahead of the last runs.
As everyone put on new tyres, the gaps closed up. Lando Norris sent the crowd into raptures as he took provisional pole briefly as he pumped in a 1:26.961.
However, the World Champion responded with a 1:26.720 to take pole position for the British Grand Prix.
McLaren had a memorable day as Norris and Piastri sealed P2 and P3.
Leclerc, Sainz, Russell and Hamilton were separated by less than a tenth as they filled positions 4th to 7th.
An excellent Alex Albon, Alonso and Gasly filled the remaining positions in the top 10.
