Max Verstappen silenced the British fans by seeing off McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to put his Red Bull on pole position at Silverstone.
Verstappen did not look to be in the hunt for first place, but he pulled a brilliant lap out of the bag to beat Piastri by 0.103 seconds with Norris third, 0.118 seconds adrift.
George Russell took fourth for Mercedes, one place ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who had dared to dream of a first pole position for Ferrari, but ended up two tenths off the pace. Charles Leclerc qualified sixth in the other Ferrari.
Verstappen was only fourth after the opening runs in Q3 at a gusty and overcast Silverstone, and complained his Red Bull was difficult to drive.
However, when it mattered most the four-time world champion came from nowhere to take top spot – his first pole since Miami at the beginning of May.
“Simply lovely,” he said over the radio and then added: “That final lap was good enough. This is a proper track in qualifying where you have to go flat out.
“It is a big boost for the team as well and excited to go racing tomorrow. We are going to go racing, we will do the best we can.”
Norris said: “Not the top but still a good day. It’s going to be fun tomorrow, a good battle. It’s going to be an interesting Sunday so I’m looking forward to it.”
How did Max do that?
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