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Fernando Alonso of the Alpine F1 team with a blistering start gained four places at the end of the Sprint Qualifying race at the 2021 British Grand Prix. In a trademark Alonso start, the Spaniard went from eleventh position to fifth position after a remarkable opening lap.

Alonso then put up a feisty defence of his position before having to concede positions to the two McLaren drivers. In the closing laps, Alonso managed to keep his seventh position after a tough duel with old rival Sebastian Vettel. Alonso was the star of the first Sprint Qualifying and said: “It was a good session for us today and I had a lot of fun. I think we made the right choice starting on the Soft tyres and it’s a better position to start the race tomorrow.

“Our start was good and I climbed quite a few places from eleventh to fifth in the first few corners. We then lost a few positions back to the McLarens and held onto seventh at the end. I think the format was fun but I am sure there are some small improvements we can make. We’ll aim to carry this momentum into the race tomorrow.”

Esteban Ocon: “I’m pretty pleased with today’s Sprint Qualifying”

Esteban Ocon started in thirteenth position and gained three places in the Sprint Qualifying race on Saturday. Ocon needs a good race on Sunday after poor performances in the previous three races.

Ocon said: “I’m pretty pleased with today’s Sprint Qualifying as we’ve gained three places for the race tomorrow and that means we’re starting in the top ten for tomorrow’s race. It’s where we felt we should be yesterday, so that’s positive. The call by the team to start on Softs was good and I had a quick start off the line to gain some positions.

James Key, the Technical Director of the McLaren F1 Team, says everyone at McLaren has enjoyed the challenges posed by the introduction of Sprint Qualifying in Formula 1.

Friday’s running at Silverstone was focused mainly on getting the best out of the car in Qualifying trim, although they had to be aware that parc ferme conditions came into effect earlier than normal, so they could not take their eyes off Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying race nor Sunday’s full-length British Grand Prix.

“The weekend has been a learning curve with a new format based around sprint qualifying, but we’ve enjoyed the fresh challenges this has brought,” said Key.  

“Car specification was frozen for yesterday’s qualifying session, with the parc ferme conditions kicking in early this weekend, which left us with higher fuel levels and tyre compound assessment as the main focus for free practice this morning, both in preparation for the sprint quali and tomorrow’s grand prix.”

Key was pleased with how the Sprint Qualifying race unfolded for McLaren, with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo both moving up a spot from where they qualified on Friday evening.

Lando Norris felt it was a good first Sprint Qualifying race for both himself and the McLaren F1 Team as he was able to gain one position from his starting spot to claim fifth on the grid for the British Grand Prix.

Norris was able to get ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez on the opening lap, and although he fell behind Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso, he was able to bide his time and find a way ahead of the Spaniard heading into turn three on lap six.

After passing Alonso, it was a quiet run to the chequered flag for the Briton, and he will start fifth on the grid for Sunday’s full-length British Grand Prix where he hopes to continue his strong start to the 2021 Formula 1 season.

“A good first sprint quali race!” said Norris.  “I think we achieved everything we could’ve hoped for today.

“We got ahead of one of the Red Bulls, which is a quicker car, but we managed to beat them off the start and over the first lap, so it was a fun first-half. At the end, it was a quiet finish in clear air on my own.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finished in second and third position in the sprint race for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team on Saturday in the sprint race at the 2021 British Grand Prix. It was a disappointing result because Hamilton started ahead of Max Verstappen but a poor start saw him lose ground on the first lap.

Hamilton was not able to recover after that even though he tried to close the gap in the final laps. But heavy blistering of the medium compoud tyres in the scorching heat at the Silverstone circuit saw Hamilton settle for second position.

After the previous two races in Austria where Red Bull Racing Honda and Verstappen had opened up a significant gap in performance, the Mercedes team appear to be closer to the Milton Keynes-based team at this race.

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes Team Principal, said: “That was a pretty flat out first sprint race – it was a frustrating for Lewis to lose a point to Max this afternoon, but we saw that we had the pace to make it a very close race tomorrow. We will need to take a closer look to understand what happened at the start for Lewis – and I think if we had held the lead, we had the pace to finish in P1 as well because it wasn’t easy to follow.

“But it’s set up an interesting Grand Prix: there are two teams close on pace, we have Lewis and Valtteri in the mix at the front, and it looks like tyre strategy can play a big part in these temperatures as well. So we will be aiming to fight back strong in the Grand Prix proper.”

Laurent Mekies, the Racing Director at Scuderia Ferrari, felt it was a good debut for Sprint Qualifying at Silverstone on Saturday afternoon, and it was pleasing to see Charles Leclerc finish fourth.

It was not such an easy race on the other side of the garage, with Carlos Sainz Jr. dropping to nineteenth on the opening lap after contact with George Russell at Brooklands.  However, the Spaniard was able to charge back through the field to finish eleventh, and he will move up one place to tenth on the grid for the British Grand Prix after stewards penalised Russell for the incident.

Mekies feels both drivers showed good pace during the seventeen-lap Sprint Qualifying race, and it gives them confidence going into the main event on Sunday that they can score good points.

“A good debut for Sprint Qualifying, which provided a show and some interesting points,” said Mekies.  “For our part, Charles produced a great performance to ensure he starts tomorrow’s race from fourth, where he qualified yesterday. More importantly, he showed strong pace, running not far behind the three cars ahead of him.

“It was a shame for Carlos, who dropped back from yesterday’s qualifying position because of a difficult opening lap and a coming-together with Russell, which he could do nothing about. It’s even more of a shame given that he had the potential to make up places rather than lose them. At least he put on a great show this afternoon!”

Lewis Hamilton edged Max Verstappen to clinch the top position for the sprint race on Friday. It was an emotion-filled qualification in front of his home crowd after two disappointing races at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Hamilton had a poor start and Verstappen with a good launch took the lead at the start in the sprint race.

The Dutchman was in control and won the sprint race to take pole position for Sunday’s race. It was a disappointing result for Hamilton. But the Briton will start on the first row and has a chance to make amends in the main race.

Hamilton has lost further ground and is now thirty-three points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ championship. But Hamilton is in a fighting mood and said: “I did everything I could at the start with temperatures and clutch position but I still suffered wheelspin on the line so we’ll dig deep to understand what happened. I think it was great for F1 to try something new and even if the race wasn’t particularly exciting after the first lap for myself, there are definitely learnings we can take from today.

“This season it’s been a struggle with certain elements of the car but we’ve done such a great job to get to the performance level that we had yesterday – Valtteri did a great job too and we’re definitely getting closer. The Red Bull is really difficult to follow on track and from yesterday’s high, it feels like a bit of a down but we’ll turn it around to find the positives and come out fighting tomorrow for the race.”

Valtteri Bottas – “Personally I prefer qualifying to the sprint”

Valtteri Bottas started in third position on a set of soft compound tyres in contrast to the drivers at the sharp end of the grid on the medium compound tyres. It was a gamble to split the strategies between the two Mercedes drivers and put Verstappen under pressure.

Charles Leclerc says he enjoyed the Sprint Qualifying race on Saturday afternoon at Silverstone, with the Monegasque racer enjoying the fact he was able to run flat out for the whole seventeen laps without having to worry about tyre conservation or fuel saving.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver was able to finish fourth on Saturday to give him the same starting position for Sunday’s full-length British Grand Prix, and he will take encouragement that he was not too far behind Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s Valtteri Bottas at the chequered flag.

Leclerc was around three seconds behind Bottas at the end, but well clear of fifth placed Lando Norris, and it gives the Ferrari driver a great shot at scoring good points on Sunday.

“I really enjoyed Sprint Qualifying today,” said Leclerc.  “Driving flat out for 17 laps is different to what we are used to, and I had a lot of fun.

“One big difference is that you don’t have to think about saving tyres and can just go for it. I didn’t take any risks but had there been a good opportunity to gain a position, I would have taken it.

The inaugural Camping World SRX Series season came to a close on Saturday at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. In front of what was reported as the historic track’s largest crowd since 1970, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott battled father Bill Elliott for the win. As the younger Elliott celebrated his victory, SRX co-founder Tony Stewart finished runner-up to claim the championship.

Heat races

The Elliotts comprised the first row of twelve, with Chase being in the multi-driver ringer car, for the first heat. Bill dominated the heat to the finish, while Chase kept Bobby Labonte at bay to take second.

After finishing last in Heat #1, Willy T. Ribbs started on the pole for the second, though Michael Waltrip quickly took the lead. Hélio Castroneves became the leader shortly before the competition caution with seven minutes left for running too long under green. By the end of the heat, Castroneves took the win.

Stewart finished fifth in both heats, which was enough to clinch him the championship.

Heat #1 results

Heat #2 results

Feature

Bill Elliott and Labonte, both well familiar with each other as fellow ex-Cup champions and regulars in the 1990s and 2000s, made up the front row to start the feature. The former led until the first caution came on lap 26 after hitting the green flag limit. Chase caught his dad during the ensuing run before another flag for the same reason came on lap 50.

The last time Christopher Bell raced in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, he finished third in points with eight wins in 2019. Two years later, he made his return to the series in dominating fashion as he led 151 of 200 laps in Saturday’s Ambetter Get Vaccinated 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway en route to the win.

Bell started fourteenth while Kaulig Racing drivers Jeb Burton and Justin Haley comprised the front row. The first half of the opening stage was a Kaulig affair as Burton led sixteen laps before being passed by team-mate A.J. Allmendinger, who enjoyed his time in front through a pair of cautions for a competition yellow and a multi-car accident that took out Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing ally Brandon Jones, Sam Mayer, and Riley Herbst. Bell took the lead with two laps before the segment end to win the stage ahed of Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric, Justin Allgaier, Haley, Burton, Josh Berry, and Jeremy Clements.

Brandon Brown and Allmendinger led laps between stages as teams made stops. However, Bell would lead flag-to-flag as Stage #2 ran fully green. Cindric, Hemric, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Haley, Berry, Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson, and Jeb Burton rounded out the order.

Bell’s reign continued as he continued to lead the final stage. The lone incident of the segment came for Patrick Emerling‘s right-front tyre going down and sending him into the turn four wall. At the front, Bell led the rest of the way to win his seventeenth career Xfinity race and third consecutive at Loudon. Since 2008, JGR has won at New Hampshire eleven times.

The Cup Series sophomore led 146 consecutive laps from lap 55 to the checkered flag, the longest such run of 2021 and the most in an Xfinity race since Bell led 153, also at Loudon in 2019.

Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing have broken Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s nine-year qualifying dominance at the British Grand Prix, by winning the first ever Formula 1 sprint and being rewarded with pole position for Sunday.

After winning the first ever Formula 1 sprint qualifying, championship leader Max Verstappen will start the main grand prix from pole with title-rival Lewis Hamilton alongside him. Verstappen was quickest off the line from second and led Hamilton going into the first corner at Silverstone. Hamilton didn’t give up easily, the two rivals had an epic opening lap battle, where Verstappen defended supremely. From the second lap onwards it was plain sailing for Verstappen.

The same can’t be said for Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez, the Mexican had a poor start from fifth and then span in the opening laps at high-speed coming out of Chapel. The Mexican was caught in the dirty air of Mclaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris. Miraculously Pérez kept his car out of the wall but did drop to the foot of the field. In the closing stages the team decided to retire Pérez, who as a result will start from last place on Sunday.

Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner is extremely proud of Verstappen but is disappointed for Pérez. Horner expects a fight with Mercedes on Sunday.

“It’s fantastic to be starting on pole for the British Grand Prix, which was achieved in a different way with Max winning the first ever sprint qualifying race. This marks our first pole at Silverstone since 2011 and breaks the Mercedes nine-year pole position streak. The race start was crucial for us and Max got a great launch off the line. We knew Lewis was particularly strong in Sector 1 so staying ahead down the main straight was particularly important for us, which he did and maintained the lead until the flag.

Championship leader Max Verstappen will line up from pole position after winning the first ever Formula 1 sprint at the British Grand Prix, home hero Lewis Hamilton will start alongside the Dutchman. Red Bull Racing team-mate Sergio Pérez will start from last after retiring late on.

After a disappointing qualifying on Friday, it was a perfect Saturday for Verstappen, the Dutchman topped the second free practice session ahead of the first ever Formula 1 sprint. Verstappen lined up second for the seventeen lap sprint, alongside Hamilton.

Verstappen was the quickest to react off the line and led into the first corner, Hamilton remained right behind though as they battled hard for the entire first lap. Hamilton was eager to pass Verstappen but the Dutchman defended like a champion, who after the first lap wasn’t troubled.

It means that Verstappen lines up from pole for the main race on Sunday, with his title-rival right alongside in what looks set to be an exhilarating race. Verstappen enjoyed the first ever sprint race, especially the three championship points that came along with winning the sprint!

“That was good fun. I’m of course happy to score the three points and it’s quite funny to have a pole position from the race as well but we will take it. Around here it is difficult to pass but we had a good start and a good fight with Lewis on the first lap. From then we tried to do our own pace but we were pushing each other hard right to the end as you could see the tyres were blistering which we all had to manage.

The first ever Formula 1 Sprint Race ran on Saturday for seventeen laps around a scorching hot Silverstone. The first racing action on a Saturday since Kyalami, South Africa in 1985. Teams were allowed free choice of tyres to start on as the majority of drivers chose to start on the mediums, but Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Kimi Raikkonen chose to start on the quicker, racier soft tyres.

Max Verstappen’s brakes were aflame as he took off from second on the grid and jumped Lewis Hamilton by the end of the straight that is named after him. Thereafter, there was Incredible battling throughout the first lap between the two championship protagonists, Verstappen and Hamilton.

A mostly clean first lap if you discount the usual spin for Nikita Mazepin. Fernando Alonso managed to get up six places into fifth place on the first lap with some absolutely beautiful racing that showed the old dog still has it. George Russell and Carlos Sainz Jr. came together in a racing incident which forced Sainz well down the order.

On Lap seven, Sergio Pérez spun into at the exit of Becketts due to him following in the dirty air of the cars in front. Pérez managed to limp back onto the track but definitely with some damage. On the same lap Lando Norris managed to pass Alonso for fifth. His McLaren F1 Team team-mate Daniel Ricciardo managed to do the same three laps later into Village for sixth place.

Pérez retired his car on the last lap so that his team could make some repairs for the race tomorrow. Max Verstappen came out on top of the sprint in the end, taking Pole Position for tomorrow, taking three points in the championship, followed by the two Mercedes behind.

Richard Verschoor took his maiden FIA Formula 2 victory in the second sprint race of the day at Silverstone, while Oscar Piastri took over at the top of the Drivers’ standings thanks to a fourth-place finish.

The MP Motorsport driver led from start to finish and survived two safety car periods for his first win and podium in Formula 2, while Marcus Armstrong and Daniel Ticktum completed the podium.

After taking victory in the earlier sprint race earlier in the day, Robert Shwartzman’s reward was to start from tenth for race two, with Verschoor taking pole position.  The former Red Bull Junior Team driver was joined on the front row by DAMS’ Ferrari Driver Academy member Armstrong.

After his podium earlier in the day, Christian Lundgaard’s second sprint race started in the worst possible way as the ART Grand Prix driver stalled on the dummy grid and was pushed back into the pit lane by the marshals leaving his eighth-place spot on the grid vacant.

It was a good start by Verschoor, who comfortably held onto the lead at turn one ahead of Armstrong and Ticktum, while a fast-starting Piastri attacked Liam Lawson for fourth but to no avail. 

The second and final practice of the British Grand Prix weekend was a relatively quiet one but left us with a mixed bag of times. The wind had picked up, hindering a couple of drivers, with all twenty drivers using the session to prepare for the two upcoming races, the Saturday Sprint Qualifying and then Sunday’s full-distance British Grand Prix.

The Sprint race will see a seventeen-lap run to the flag, and although Pirelli‘s medium compound tyre is likely to be the favoured tyre for it, some drivers may gamble on the soft compound. And as a result, both of those compounds were utilised during the session, as was the hard compound, which is only likely to be used on Sunday.

Max Verstappen topped the timing sheets again, putting him in a strong position for Saturday evening’s sprint race. The Red Bull Racing driver will start in second but his times in practice eclipsed those of Lewis Hamilton, who is starting the sprint in first.

Verstappens Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez continued his struggle to match the pace of the Dutchman. He was the fifth fastest in practice overall.

Scuderia Ferrari made sure that they had the upper hand over McLaren F1 Team going into the sprint race. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. came in second and third respectively. The duo from McLaren wasn’t too far behind with Lando Norris still edging out his team-mate in sixth, with Daniel Ricciardo just behind him in seventh.

Pirelli Motorsport says there are a few strategy options in play for Saturday’s first-ever Sprint Qualifying race at Silverstone, but teams will need to keep one eye on their tyre allocations ahead of Sunday’s full-length British Grand Prix.

Mario Isola, the Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli, says the weekend format introduced for the first time at Silverstone, ensured most teams used all three tyre compounds during Friday’s first practice session as they prepared themselves for an earlier than normal Qualifying session on Friday evening.

The teams will all have one further hour of practice on Saturday morning to prepare themselves for Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying race, before the main event on Sunday afternoon.

And it is with Sunday’s race in mind that Isola feels teams will have to work out their strategies around to ensure they have the right tyres available to them to survive the fifty-two laps on Sunday.

“There was a lot for the teams to get used to with the new format, influencing the way in which they used their tyres, bearing in mind the half-hour sprint qualifying race tomorrow that the teams will want to run without pit stops,” said Isola.