| Row 1 | 1. Lewis Hamilton 1’26.134 Mercedes | |
| 2. Max Verstappen 1’26.209 Red Bull | ||
| Row 2 | 3. Valtteri Bottas 1’26.328 Mercedes | |
| 4. Charles Leclerc 1’26.828 Ferrari | ||
| Row 3 | 5. Sergio Perez 1’26.844 Red Bull | |
| 6. Lando Norris 1’26.897 McLaren | ||
| Row 4 | 7. Daniel Ricciardo 1’26.899 McLaren | |
| 8. George Russell 1’26.971 Williams | ||
| Row 5 | 9. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’27.007 Ferrari | |
| 10. Sebastian Vettel 1’27.179 Aston Martin | ||
| Row 6 | 11. Fernando Alonso 1’27.245 Alpine | |
| 12. Pierre Gasly 1’27.273 AlphaTauri | ||
| Row 7 | 13. Esteban Ocon 1’27.340 Alpine | |
| 14. Antonio Giovinazzi 1’27.617 Alfa Romeo | ||
| Row 8 | 15. Lance Stroll 1’27.665 Aston Martin | |
| 16. Yuki Tsunoda 1’28.043 AlphaTauri | ||
| Row 9 | 17. Kimi Raikkonen 1’28.062 Alfa Romeo | |
| 18. Nicholas Latifi 1’28.254 Williams | ||
| Row 10 | 19. Mick Schumacher 1’28.738 Haas | |
| 20. Nikita Mazepin 1’29.051 Haas |
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2021 British Grand Prix
- Who was to blame for Verstappen and Hamilton’s collision at Silverstone?
- Hamilton penalty “harsh” for move within FIA’s overtaking guidance – Allison
- Why Hamilton “wasn’t seen as wholly to blame” for the Verstappen crash
- Sainz convinced he had pace to challenge for podium without British GP setbacks
- F1 will “definitely” consider more points for future sprint qualifying races
trib4udi (@trib4udi)
16th July 2021, 19:06
Bottas 0.5s ahead of Perez.
Silverstone is truly a Merc track still.
Good job by both Lewis and Max today. And George of course!
MaddMe (@)
16th July 2021, 19:09
George put that Williams where it has no right being…. I genuinely feel his ability will be the reason he will not be in in the Mercedes next to Hamilton next season.
Postreader
16th July 2021, 19:13
Latifi makes it really hard to judge how good or bad that Williams really is, though. As far as we know, it could be as good as the Astons or the Renaults.
DaveW (@dmw)
16th July 2021, 19:49
Racing Martin has the same floor/brake duct issues as Mercedes but they are not Mercedes in their ability to adapt and started already a second back, so they are not the best benchmark. Renault have gone in a weird design direction so who knows if they are just slow. Haas is just marking time and Alfa is not showing signs of life. But it’s credible to say that the current Williams, high rake car with Mercedes under the hood/bonnet, may be a solid car. Latifi is a question mark. He was not garbage in lower formulas, but no one has ever even heard of him being considered for a step up the ranks in F1. Clearly no one rates him in the paddock. Russell otherwise raced against Kubica.
Kotrba
16th July 2021, 19:17
Well, it seems, at least according to reports, it is purely Mercedes decision and not Hamilton´s so we will see.
DaveW (@dmw)
16th July 2021, 19:13
Bottas is a fast race car driver. Bottas is fast so it’s the car; Russell is fast so it’s the driver? I would look at this and see Bottas is .2s off Hamilton on a long track. He earned his pay today and did as much to keep his seat as Russell did to claim it.
trib4udi (@trib4udi)
16th July 2021, 19:16
Mind you that Lewis goofed up his final lap, while being faster till that error. So would have been 1.25:9 .
Merc still superior on this track. Its last stronghold?
Last year Lewis qualified a full second faster than the first non-Merc. At least that gap came down.
Emma
16th July 2021, 19:37
The reason “he goofed” is because he took it beyond the limit. If he hadn’t, he would have been slower at that point and you cannot authoritatively say so he would have dipped below 1.26.0.
Rob (@)
17th July 2021, 1:54
I think they benefited from the cooler temperatures. They could very well remain ahead on Sunday but it’s hard to say for now. Well probably have a good idea after tomorrow. Personally I’m hoping the top two five take each other out t1 and we get Italy 2020 pt 2 come sunday
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th July 2021, 16:13
The problem is merc was faster with both drivers, so it’s not like a fast driver can beat a fast merc driver on a track like this, because bottas is pretty close to hamilton too, perez is nowhere.
LB (@burden93)
16th July 2021, 19:18
Perez is in his tenth race for Red Bull and hasn’t been considered a great qualifier in his career. Bottas is in his sixth season with Mercedes and qualifying is his strong point.
To me that is a very poor metric to work out which car is better!
trib4udi (@trib4udi)
16th July 2021, 19:24
Then we disagree on the quality of this metric . No worries. I find 0.5s a huge difference. And I don’t consider Bottas to be big qualifier either.
BasCB (@bascb)
16th July 2021, 20:34
Well, if we take the times as such, you should take Perez actual fastest lap in account a bit too though, the one that was deleted because of track limits.
And yeah, Bottas IS a very good qualifier, how else would he be able to get so close to Hamilton so often, sometimes even beating him?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th July 2021, 16:14
Indeed, bottas is a good qualifier, perez isn’t, so you can’t straight up say merc is better than red bull by x tenths because bottas beats perez by that amount, still they seem to have a significant edge, and normally in the race they’re better than red bull, when compared to quali on the same track.
JL (@j-l)
16th July 2021, 19:06
What a lap by Max. The championship is still very much on.
Emma
16th July 2021, 19:10
And the lap by Lewis?
Tom
16th July 2021, 19:12
Obviously that lap was pathetic from Hamilton because he’s in the best car. The Redbull is actually slower than the Haas and it’s the mighty Verstappen that drags it to the front, such a hero.
Balue (@balue)
17th July 2021, 10:49
You should really start watching F1 before commenting. Hamilton made a massive mistake, and was saved by track temp change and a Red Bull setup error.
trib4udi (@trib4udi)
16th July 2021, 19:13
Lewis actually made a big error in what would have been a faster lap. So you can’t say Lewis did a perfect job.
Still a good job though! But Merc still superior on this track, albeit by a much smaller margin .
Swifty
16th July 2021, 19:16
Just like Max in the previous session. Either way, a mighty qualifying for Lewis / Max.
JL (@j-l)
16th July 2021, 19:33
I only caught about last 8 minutes of Q3, so I might be misinformed. But it looked like Max got a better lap together, perhaps in a similar vein of what Lewis was doing in his last attempt before the mistake. He was six tenths up on Perez’s deleted lap. I appreciate both drivers in the title fight, this was just my honest impression from the little I saw.
StephenH
16th July 2021, 19:07
That was a brilliant qualifying session.
F1 at it’s best.
Now for a pointless 17 lap pootle around Silverstone tomorrow which will show why we should stick with this format.
DaveW (@dmw)
16th July 2021, 19:37
I wonder if you might ever see a team short fuel one car for the sprint race, and send it out as a “rabbit” to get some glory in the lead for 8-10 laps and then retire because the “saw something in the data.” I mean if you are starting in the back or there abouts, it doesn’t matter
Jere (@jerejj)
16th July 2021, 19:08
Max might be in trouble, given setups are locked for the remaining event.
Only 0.002 between Mclaren drivers.
f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
16th July 2021, 19:12
wait if the set up is locked whats the point of practice 2?
LB (@burden93)
16th July 2021, 19:16
Not sure there is! I think they’re expecting most teams to do little to no running
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
16th July 2021, 19:18
@f1fan-2000 With cars now in parc ferme the only changes they can make is essentially just wing levels & tyre pressures.
They retained an FP2 to allow teams to get some long runs in on the tyres & prep for the race. I think it’s also so Pirelli have some long run data to look at before finalising minimum pressures as well as looking for signs of any potential issues (Which could see them increase said minimum pressures).
RandomMallard (@)
16th July 2021, 19:23
@stefmeister As I said yesterday, they are allowed to change the specification of parts after Quali for FP2 and SQ, as long as they are if a specification that has already been used this season. Parc Ferme is a little less restrictive this weekend
Jere (@jerejj)
16th July 2021, 19:30
@f1fan-2000 Saturday practice and QLF the other way round, i.e., days switched would’ve been better.
MaddMe (@)
16th July 2021, 19:15
@jerejj. The big difference between practice and quali would be track temperature would have dropped quite considerably. That could have benefited the Mercedes, so we will see what happens in the next couple of days.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
16th July 2021, 19:09
Shame we’re not going straight to the race actually, this qualifying would be a great lead up to it. Just hope nothing crazy happens tomorrow that leads to a less representative grid for the race.
DaveW (@dmw)
16th July 2021, 19:31
I feel like the Hamilton v. Verstappen battle on more equal terms should continue also. I also see Toto sidling up to Bottas tonight and letting him know his job is to get head of Verstappen tomorrow, not to just cruise around in third, and by any means necessary. Verstappen will have to be wary of Bottas driving like his job depends on it and just sending it down the inside with the slightest opportunity.
theRealMax (@millionus)
16th July 2021, 22:30
I think this type of tactical thinking @dmw is the only thing that makes the QS interesting to me. Do you have people blocking deliberately or letting their faster team mates through intentionally to get a better grid etc. Seems to be a lot of scope for shenanigans. Only if they had an unlimited budget it may be like watching BTCC.
Emma
16th July 2021, 19:11
People give those top two drivers stick here but the truth is we’re lucky to have both of them racing at this point in time. What talents!
Dom (@3dom)
16th July 2021, 19:14
Amen
LB (@burden93)
16th July 2021, 19:24
+1. I think we’re in a real golden age at the moment, the top 9 or 10 drivers are probably the strongest it’s ever been
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
17th July 2021, 16:26
True, lb, really strong grid overall.
LB (@burden93)
16th July 2021, 19:13
I’m glad Mercedes are back in the fight with Red Bull, super close! I’m hoping we can resume the thrilling close racing of the first few races rather than what we’ve had for the last couple! The championship is back on!
Also George Russell – super special! Tenth and a half off 4th place!
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
16th July 2021, 19:14
I struggled to really get as invested or excited about that as I normally would a qualifying session because knowing that isn’t setting the grid for the GP & we have this extra step in-between with the sprint (Race) tomorrow just sort of made it feel less important somehow.
A part of the thing that makes qualifying so exciting to me is the jeopardy of it, How a mistake can cost you time which costs you grid position for the GP. Since this isn’t setting the grid for the GP & we have that extra qualifying race tomorrow it just took away some of that jeopardy for me which therefore took away some of the usual excitement.
I also think it’s silly how we can’t say that Lewis just took pole & are in a situation where everyone on Sky & elsewhere are having to try & come up with different ways to say it. Lewis has won qualifying, He’s 1st for the sprint & the other dozen i’ve heard/read today. It’s just seems silly to me & it’s one of the elements to this sprint format I simply do not like.
Kotrba
16th July 2021, 19:18
Can anyone “questimate” the value of tow when cars are running this much apart (there must have been 5-6 second gap between Bottas and Hamilton)?
trib4udi (@trib4udi)
16th July 2021, 19:29
According to the pundits 0.1s.
trib4udi (@trib4udi)
16th July 2021, 19:19
Special mention too to Charles. 0.2s ahead of Sainz is pretty decent.
Ahead of Perez. Now RB will cherish there is a sprint race, otherwise Perez would be stuck behind Charles…
DaveW (@dmw)
16th July 2021, 19:20
I’ve never seen a weekend where a team went from being almost .8s up in the “final” practice to losing pole. That was extremely interesting. Clearly Hamilton was just wringing out the car though. Even after a skid in Luffield he was still going like stink and would have improved his time if he didn’t vin diesel it through the last chicane looking for another tenth. Maybe Verstappen’s challenge has pepped him up a bit.
Also great for Ricciardo to be right up there with Norris. Although it seemed that it’s maybe more of Norris maybe losing the set up direction and falling back to Ricciardo’s normal position than Ricciardo stepping up. The team have the data and will know but it’s got to be good for his mindset.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
16th July 2021, 19:22
Weren’t Liberty, Sky & all the gimmick race lovers insisting that this weekend format with so little practice time was going to catch everyone out, create surprises and really mix up the grid.
Just proves that even with less running if teams go in knowing they have less running it won’t mix things up.
#LibertyOut!
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
16th July 2021, 19:23
But of course the Sky overlords are already praising this Friday format as been a massive success.
#GetF1AwayFromSky!!! #LibertyOut! #OutWithTheGimmicks! #NoToIndycar+!
RandomMallard (@)
16th July 2021, 19:24
We haven’t even seen the major new part of the format in action yet…
Dave
16th July 2021, 20:20
#BakuIsNeverTheSameAgain
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
16th July 2021, 19:29
It’s just a shame that we just got to see a fantastic pole position lap which we can’t call a pole lap and which won’t be in the record books.
This entire gimmick race format is a complete joke.
#LibertyOut!
JL (@j-l)
16th July 2021, 19:36
Let’s wait and see how the entire weekend plays out first. But I do agree that Lewis should get the pole position after tonight.
Dave
16th July 2021, 20:23
#ItWasSeriouslyPolePosition #WaitForIndyCarsResponseToBeCalledCARTX
Franks 'n Beans
16th July 2021, 19:42
… you can’t choreograph competition. Attempts at race choreography reduces it, to entertainment. Vehicle dynamics remotely administrated and micromanaged via telemetry, as of this writing, motor sport’s number 1 problem: race-rigging. F1 is sorely in need of a regression, back to its roots, as a proving ground advancing automotive technology. This world has no need or want, for an opened-wheeled NASCAR (e.g., Indycar) –
OOliver
16th July 2021, 19:43
I think we should just call it Not Yet Pole Position.
It is so hard to get excited about this Sprint format.
DaveW (@dmw)
16th July 2021, 19:52
How about Pole Superposition (for the quantum theorists out there).
OOliver
16th July 2021, 23:17
All I see is more entanglement.
Plossl (@)
17th July 2021, 0:12
Schrodinger’s Pole…
hamiledon
16th July 2021, 21:22
Leclerc is a very special qualifier.