It was typical British weather, as qualifying got underway. Temperature was 18 degrees Celsius, and the sky was dark grey. Statistically it rains one in three days in the UK, so this could well be one of those days. Tyre-wise Ferrari repeated the strategy used in Austria; both Sebastian and Charles came out on the medium Pirellis. Especially Charles' pace was utterly convincing, and the Monegasque went fastest straight away. Sebastian had it more difficult; the German was only fourth after his first attempt. However, as soon as home hero Hamilton came out on the soft rubber, he took the top spot, but by one tenth only. Verstappen showed improved pace as well, and the Austrian GP winner was third fastest. Bottas hadn't found his rhythm yet, and the Finn was fourth in the first session. Sebastian proved unable to match his teammate's pace, and he was in tame P5. I couldn't help wondering, why he was lacking pace so badly. Kimi's Q2 entrance was down to the final attempt. The Iceman delivered, when it mattered the most, and jumped to P13. Out of Q2 were Haas' Magnussen, Toro Rosso's Kvyat, Racing Point's Stroll and the Williams duo of Russell and Kubica.
Silverstone is known to be very hard on the tyres, so the soft compound isn't expected to have very long life expectancy. So it was no surprise, that Mercedes sent their drivers out on the medium compound. Earlier this season, Red Bull have sent only Verstappen out on the medium rubber, but this time also Gasly opted for the yellow-marked compound. Ferrari's strategy was a surprise instead. Charles opted for medium Pirellis, but Sebastian came out on the soft rubber! And in spite of the tyre choice, Sebastian was absolutely struggling with his pace. Whilst teammate Charles went fastest on the mediums, Sebastian was only 8th after his first run, massive eight tenths off the pace! Verstappen's teammate Gasly has under-performed badly during the first third of the season, but coming to Silverstone, the Frenchman seemed to have picked up some pace. It was eye-catching, that after the first runs, Gasly was faster than his wind-fast teammate. At the end of the second segment, Sebastian came out on another set of softs. This time he managed to put together a decent lap, moving fifth. Unbelievable but true, also Charles came out on the softs in the end, improving his lap time, which means, that he has to start to the race on the soft compound. Bottas was second, Hamilton third and Verstappen fourth. Could Charles challenge the Silver Arrows for pole for real? The Alfa Romeo duo of Giovinazzi and Räikkönen were the first drivers to miss out on Q3. Nevertheless, teammate Giovinazzi managed to out-qualify his Finnish teammate again, the Italian being 11th fastest. Also McLaren's Sainz, Haas' Grosjean and Racing Point's Perez were eliminated from the final session.
Hamilton had claimed six pole positions on his home turf already. Would he be able to take the record-breaking seventh one? His teammate seemed to disagree with that. Bottas clocked an outstanding lap time, taking the provisional pole. Hamilton made a slight mistake on his first flyer, losing the rear of his W09 for a fleeting moment, and the Briton was two tenths down on his teammate. Flying Verstappen gave his answer, jumping third. Leclerc's first flyer left a little to hope for, and the young Ferrari ace was fourth, with Gasly fifth and Sebastian sixth. Sebastian was six tenths down on Bottas, which was incomprehensible. The track conditions varied from session to session, depending much on the wind. Bottas didn't improve his lap time on his last run. Hamilton put together an extremely competitive lap, but missed out on pole by six thousandths of a second! That was a teeny tiny margin indeed! Charles improved, too on his last run, and the battle was very tight. Charles was left third, only 0.079s off pole-setter Bottas! Verstappen qualified fourth, with teammate Gasly fifth. I couldn't believe my eyes, that Sebastian was really left in P6, almost seven tenths off the pace! What has happened to Sebastian, who could pull out a perfect lap, whenever it was needed? I know his skills haven't gone anywhere. But there has to be a reason why he is struggling so badly. Renault's Ricciardo was the leader of the midfield, qualifying 7th, with McLaren's Norris eighth. Albon in his Toro Rosso and Hulkenberg in his Renault rounded out the top ten.
Tomorrow's race will certainly be interesting. The Silver Arrows on the front row will start on the medium Pirellis, but Charles in P3 will have the softs on. Do Ferrari know something, that their rivals don't? Will a two-stopper be the right strategy? Or is it even possible to make a one-stop strategy work, even if you start on the mediums? The long runs on Friday showed, that Mercedes have the best long-run pace. But tyre-wise, Verstappen might have an advantage, as the flying Dutchman is extremely skillful with tyre management. I hope, that Sebastian will find more pace for the race. It hurts to see him struggling like that. All the best, Sebastian, I'll be holding my thumbs up for you! Forza Ferrari!
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