Hamilton Claims Pole Position for British Grand Prix Sprint Race
Lewis Hamilton thrilled the home crowd by securing pole position for the sprint race at the British Grand Prix. Driving for Ferrari, Hamilton edged out Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, who qualified second, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen took third place.
Hamilton's pole position for the Saturday morning sprint race at Silverstone came as a surprise to many, given Ferrari's anticipated disadvantage to Mercedes on this power-sensitive circuit. However, from the outset on Friday, Hamilton and Ferrari defied expectations. Hamilton was fastest in the first practice session, ahead of Antonelli, and topped the timesheets in every sprint qualifying session, including the decisive final run where he narrowly beat Antonelli.
Kimi Antonelli leads the world championship by 40 points over his teammate George Russell, who is 46 points ahead of Hamilton. Russell qualified fifth for the sprint race.
Hamilton Reflects on His Performance and Connection to Silverstone
Despite his strong performance, Hamilton appeared somewhat surprised to have outpaced Mercedes and Red Bull at Silverstone, a track he knows intimately.
“I love this place, I love this crowd, and I can’t express to you how big a dream it is,” he said. “I’m really grateful to get that pole. I was quick through all the session but still, it was only 10 milliseconds, so it was very close to these guys.
“Still to this day when you’re building up to this race you think about every corner and the flow you can get into at this track if you get the setup right and if you’ve got the right team behind you.”
Details of Sprint Qualifying Session
During the final qualifying shootout (Q3), McLaren's Oscar Piastri initially set the pace before being surpassed by his teammate Lando Norris. Antonelli posted a rapid time behind them, briefly taking the lead. Hamilton excelled in the middle sector and ultimately claimed pole by a margin of 11 thousandths of a second, with a lap time of 1 minute 28.376 seconds. Verstappen qualified fourth, trailing by three-tenths of a second. Charles Leclerc was fifth for Ferrari, with Norris and Piastri in sixth and seventh respectively.
Growing Female Audience at the British Grand Prix
Earlier in the day, Lando Norris commented on the increasing diversity of the Formula 1 audience, highlighting the significant rise in female fans. This weekend’s British Grand Prix is expected to attract a record attendance, with approximately 570,000 spectators over the race weekend at Silverstone. This figure surpasses the previous highest attendance of 520,000 at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix.
Notably, female attendees now represent 43% of ticket sales for the British Grand Prix. Norris's dedicated grandstand at Stowe corner, featuring his fluorescent yellow branding, has been expanded to a 20,000 capacity this year. Last year, 70% of tickets sold for this stand were purchased by female fans.
“The fact of just more women getting into the sport in the first place is a good thing,” Norris said. “So, it’s nice to know that I’ve played a part in it, in bringing a newer, younger generation and an audience to Formula One.
“Most that I’ve seen today were girls and women, which is a cool thing. It’s just good to know that Formula One has moved on from that point of view,” he added. “I don’t think it’s necessarily lost the amount of guys that love it, it’s just more of the girls and women that are getting into it, which is a bonus because there’s just more of an audience altogether.”
