Norris takes sarcastic jab at Verstappen's pole: 'He ruins everything for everyone!'

Max Verstappen demonstrated his and Red Bull's supremacy with dramatic effect on Saturday when he claimed a fifth consecutive pole position by topping qualifying for the British Grand Prix.

The double world champion and runaway series leader clocked a late best lap time to outpace McLaren's British driver Lando Norris by two-tenths of a second.

Australian rookie Oscar Piastri was third fastest in the second McLaren ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and the Mercedes of George Russell and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

"It has been a bit of a crazy qualifying and pretty hectic," said Verstappen of the wet and dry session run in changeable conditions. "But we stuck to our plans and I am very happy to have pole position."

Lando ???? Oscar#BritishGP #F1 @McLarenF1 pic.twitter.com/zlYU1EVuMt

Perez's exit

As he celebrated, his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who trails him by 81 points in the drivers’ title race, suffered a fifth early exit this season in Q1.

Norris who briefly held provisional pole position claimed his third front row career start.

"This makes up for everything," he said. "But it’s always Max - he ruins everything for everyone too!"

Williams' Alex Albon was eighth ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly of Alpine.

After heavy rain, the track was damp as the first qualifying session began with Russell and Hamilton, on slicks, leading the way.

The Ferraris were both on intermediates along with the Haas drivers and Logan Sargeant as Russell set the first time before Hamilton spun into gravel at Stowe and recovered.

As he did, Verstappen went top only to have his lap deleted for exceeding track limits, Alonso taking over as fastest while those on 'inters' switched to slicks.

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