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Sebastian Vettel qualified tenth on the grid for the first-ever Sprint Qualifying race at Silverstone on Friday evening, but the German admitted he would have liked to have higher up the grid.

The Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team racer lost his first lap time due to track limits in Q3 and then was unable to better his Q2 time on his second run, which left him slowest of the ten drivers who made it through.

Vettel says it was great to see the large crowd at Silverstone, but ultimately, he was not happy to be tenth on the grid, believing he had the car beneath him to get a few places better up the order.

“I would have liked to end Q3 higher up because the car has looked competitive and the pace came quite easily today,” said Vettel.  “Overall, it was a decent session: I was happy with my best lap in Q2, but in Q3 I struggled to find more from the car. So I think we could have been a few places higher up.

“It was great to see the big crowd here today and I guess the new format made Friday more interesting for the fans.”

Charles Leclerc once again showcased his Qualifying expertise on Friday, with the Monegasque racer putting his Scuderia Ferrari into fourth place on the grid for the first-ever Sprint Qualifying race at Silverstone.

In a busy day for all teams due to the different programme in place for the British Grand Prix weekend, Leclerc was able to get his Ferrari into the top ten and then beat Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez by 0.016 seconds to get onto the second row of the grid.

Leclerc does not have any expectations for the Sprint Qualifying race, but he knows final practice on Saturday morning will be important for him to get a good set-up for race conditions.

“I’m very happy with today’s result,” said Leclerc.  “Going into qualifying with so little preparation makes things a bit more tricky, but also exciting.

“We did a good job in maximizing the potential of our car. Overall, I felt confident, especially in Q1. In Q2, I was not at the level that I wanted to be, but I regained my confidence and pace for the final session, finishing in P4. I think it was the best result we could have hoped for.

Max Verstappen was disappointed to miss out on pole position at Silverstone on Friday evening, but the Dutchman remains confident he can extend his winning run on Sunday.

The Red Bull Racing driver had taken pole position in each of the last three Grand Prix but was usurped at Silverstone by Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s Lewis Hamilton by 0.075 seconds.

Verstappen said his RB16B had understeer that meant he was unable to attack the corners around the track as much as he would have liked and left him falling short in Qualifying.

However, with the first-ever Sprint Qualifying race coming up on Saturday and the full-length British Grand Prix on Sunday, the Dutchman is confident he can take a fourth consecutive race victory and further extend his advantage at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

“Of course I am disappointed because I wanted to start first tomorrow but we have the sprint qualifying race to decide the main grid and then Sunday as well so we will try and get them back,” said Verstappen.  

The British Grand Prix on Saturday will host the first of a series of three Sprint races that is being trialled in the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

The 100 kilometer race is equivalent to seventeen laps at the Silverstone circuit where the lap distance is 5.891 kms. If we take the average lap time to be 1m30.000s, the duration of the race is likely to be under thirty minutes.

If there is a red flag situation, the race can be stopped and restarted. The total race duration is limited to ninety minutes from the start of the race.

The top three finishers in the Sprint race will be awarded points. The winner will get three points, second place will get two points, and third place will get one point. The full points will be awarded if atleast 75% of the race distance is completed.

So the oft-repeated cliché that there are no points awarded on a Saturday at a Grand Prix weekend does not apply at the three Grands Prix with Sprint races this season. The Italian Grand Prix is likely to be the second race to experiment with this new format.

Andrea Stella, the Executive Director of Racing at the McLaren F1 Team, said it had been an interesting Friday for the team that ended with both Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo Qualifying inside the top seven at Silverstone.

Norris had been an encouraging second quickest during Friday afternoon’s one and only practice session, but he was not able to make the front row for a second consecutive race weekend and was forced to settle for sixth.  Team-mate Ricciardo was only 0.002 seconds back on Norris in seventh, with both less than a tenth of a second away from a place on the second row of the grid!

Stella admitted it was not straightforward for both cars to get into the top ten shootout at Silverstone, such was the competitive nature of the field, but to get sixth and seventh was a good result ahead of Formula 1’s first-ever Sprint Qualifying race on Saturday afternoon.

Ricciardo had finished ninth in Q2, just ahead of Norris, with the Briton just 0.025 seconds ahead of Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso in eleventh.

“Interesting day! The practice session this afternoon was intense, but we got through our programme and were well prepared for qualifying,” said Stella.  “Qualifying itself was very, very competitive, with several teams producing good lap-times, making getting through the sessions by no means a foregone conclusion.

The FIA Formula 2 championship lead has changed hands again after Robert Shwartzman won the first sprint race of the weekend at Silverstone thanks to a terrific start, but it’s his teammate Oscar Piastri who takes the points lead.

The Russian got off the line like a bullet from a gun to launch his PREMA from fourth on the grid to the lead by the first braking zone of Village and despite three safety car restarts, he always looked in control to take his second win of the year.

The first of those safety cars was deployed as previous points leader Guanyu Zhou spun all on his own at The Loop and ended his race before it had really begun. Roy Nissany also failed to make it through the opening lap after he ran into the back of Christian Lundgaard at the same corner and caused unraceable damage to his DAMS car.

Juri Vips was never too far away from Shwartzman out front but he couldn’t get close enough to challenge but second gives him more decent championship points after winning twice in Baku last time out. He too started on row two alongside Shwartzman after another lightning start.

Lundgaard lost his reverse grid pole at the start but held on to third come the chequered flag to finally score a result his raw pace indicated he deserved while his teammate Théo Pourchaire couldn’t quite find a way past Felipe Drugovich for fourth despite hounding the Brazilian all race long.

Lando Norris felt it was a tricky Friday at Silverstone for both himself and his McLaren F1 Team as he took sixth place on the grid for Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying race.

The British racer had taken second place in the one and only practice session earlier in the day, but he was not able to find the same kind of pace gain as those around him and was left to fight just to make it into the top ten shootout.

Despite this, he is satisfied to be on the third row of the grid for Saturday’s race, and they now have final practice on Saturday morning to work out the set-up that will benefit them in that race and in Sunday’s full-distance British Grand Prix.

“Tricky day with this different format, just because of the time limits you have,” said Norris.  “With less track time than we’re used to, it makes it much more challenging to know what decisions to make, and you take a couple more gambles based on the information you have.

“Saying that, I don’t think we could’ve done a lot better than sixth. Maybe there was something here or there, but at the end of the day I’m satisfied with where we are.

Dave Robson admitted it was a busy Friday at Silverstone for Williams Racing, but it was also an exciting day as George Russell was able to make it through to Q3 for the second consecutive race weekend.

Russell will start Saturday’s first-ever Sprint Qualifying race from the fourth row of the grid after placing his Williams eighth on the grid, although team-mate Nicholas Latifi will be ten places behind the Briton after struggling with straight-line speed down the straights.

Robson, the Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams, said the team had struggled for performance during the one and only practice session on Friday afternoon, but it all came good, at least on one side of the garage, when it mattered later in the day.

“Today has been a busy but exciting day,” said Robson.  “We felt that we struggled a little in FP1, but we were happy that we had done the work that we needed to in order to set the car up ready for Saturday and Sunday.

“Going into Qualifying we made a few minor changes to the cars to suit the cooler track temperature and calmer wind conditions.  From the first run in Qualifying, both drivers were happy with their cars and were confident to push harder each lap.

George Russell will start Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying race from eighth on the grid after some superb lap during Friday evening’s Qualifying session at Silverstone.

Buoyed on by his home fans, the Williams Racing driver recovered from being bottom of the timing sheets in the one and only practice session earlier in the day to not only escape Q1, but also to make it into Q3 for the second consecutive race weekend.

Russell was then able to outqualify both Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. and Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team’s Sebastian Vettel to ensure a position on row four of the grid for Saturday’s first-ever sprint race.

“It was our best qualifying session, and to do it in front of a home crowd was such an amazing feeling,” said Russell.  “This morning in FP1 I had no confidence with the car, and here we are in P8!

“Following practice, we had a decision to make to try and improve the car or stick to our guns and hope the track came towards us, which it did. Everything got in a much nicer window and I felt confident and comfortable out there which allowed me to get that extra tenth or two.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team Race Engineer Andrew Shovlin has nothing but praise for Lewis Hamilton after he topped qualifying for the sprint race at the British Grand Prix, leading the way the first for him since the Spanish Grand Prix.

Qualifying has been hard for the team to obtain in recent weeks but they’ll be glad that they’re sitting at the front of the pack for Saturday’s sprint race. Although the fastest in qualifying doesn’t get the official title as pole sitter, Shovlin is still glad that his team was the fastest.

“Well done to Lewis on another pole position; they haven’t been easy to come by this year but it was a solid job throughout and a relief that his first lap in the final session was enough to secure the top spot.” said Shovlin.

“Our morning was focused on learning; there’s simply too much work to fit into one hour but we managed to do a decent mix of long run and single lap work.”

In Friday’s solo practice session, Mercedes didn’t seem to have the pace to match Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen but after looking at the data, they were able to make sure the car was geared up to be competitive.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team are finally back in the groove with Lewis Hamilton starting in first place for the sprint race for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

During Friday’s qualifying session, no-one was awarded with pole position as such, instead the driver who set the fastest time gets to start in first place for the sprint race; Hamilton got to hear “get in there Lewis” for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen looked to be a front runner to be the fastest in qualifying after being over seven-tenths quicker than the rest of the grid but it was Hamilton who stole it in the end.

“I am so grateful to see everyone here – to come to the Silverstone Grand Prix and have a full crowd and see the energy is amazing. When I was coming into this weekend, I was hopeful that with the great work we have done together in the team, plus the energy of the fans, it would get us there.” said Hamilton. 
 
“Red Bull were very quick in the practice session but we were just staying focused on our job and trying to layer up – I was in the sim this morning as a practice session because it’s the first time ever we have had a morning free. I was just putting in the time, trying to give absolutely everything and leave no stone unturned. 
 
“We’ve been working so hard, putting so much effort and time in – at the track, on the sim, in the factory – just trying to stay centred and squeeze every last thing out of this car. It’s been such a difficult time for everyone and we finally got all the fans here at the British Grand Prix, and the desire to want to deliver for everyone is beyond belief. “

“I think the last lap was really good” – Bottas

Valtteri Bottas wasn’t able to join Hamilton on the front row but he’s not too far behind in third.

Uralkali Haas F1 Team find themselves starting at the back of the grid once again for Saturday’s inagural sprint race at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.

Mick Schumacher will be starting the Saturday event in nineteenth. The young German driver had a better practice session, finishing seventeenth overall earlier in the day. Haas had made a few changes to their car going into the race weekend and Schumacher thought that would increase his chances of getting through to Q2 but was unfortunately not successful.

Schumacher said: “It was positive in one way because we made some changes that felt good, but obviously the pace we have is unfortunately all we’ve got. Of course, we could’ve improved here or there but generally it wasn’t possible to get into Q2. Still, the work is not done yet.

“We will keep on pushing, keep on trying and keep working on ourselves. It was interesting to see how everybody was excited to try something new and I’m excited to see how sprint qualifying will go. It’s a chance for us if some cars have issues, we might profit from that.

“As long as we are in the race, we’re in contention of starting a bit further ahead than we are now, so fingers crossed and let’s go forwards.”

Lewis Hamilton finished in first position at the British Grand Prix at the tenth race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Max Verstappen was in second position, just 0.075 seconds slower. Valtteri Bottas was in third position a further 0.119 seconds behind the Dutchman.

In the new format, the qualifying session took place on Friday instead of the traditional session on Saturday. The qualification results set the grid for the Sprint race which will take place on Saturday.

The finishing positions in that race will determine the pole position and the grid positions for the race on Sunday. The top three drivers in the Sprint race will be awarded points.

The qualifying session took place at the Silverstone circuit under cool conditions with air temperatures at 25 degree C and track temperatures at 40 degree C. The three compounds for this race are from the hardest range of the Pirelli tyres – the white-striped hard tyres (C1), the yellow-striped medium tyres (C2) and the red-striped soft tyres (C3).

Pole position at Silverstone went the way of Oscar Piastri who closed the gap on FIA Formula 2 championship leader Guanyu Zhou to just one point.

The PREMA driver set his pole time on his first run and even though he couldn’t improve, no one was able to get close after his teammate Robert Shwartzman spun at Stowe on his last attempt.

Second fastest was the best Zhou could do although he set that time while Shwartzman was stationary as did Richard Verschoor in third which puts both their laps in question.

Dan Ticktum was quickest in practice but he could transfer the speed onto the medium tyres so he had to settle for fourth where he can look forward with strong race pace.

Théo Pourchaire didn’t set a lap in practice after hitting the wall at Luffield but he rebounded tremendously to qualify fifth, while managing his fractured arm suffered in Baku last time out.

The new Hyundai i20 Rally2 was susposed to be making it´s debut in Rally Estonia, but the debut of the new car has been postponed and now it will instead be the subsequent Ypres Rally that gets to see the brand new Rally2 car.

The drivers who will be driving it at the debut was not presented to Hyundai Motorsport’s WRC2 team, but Oliver Solberg and Jari Huttunen are expected to be the drivers according to some rumours.

At the same time, Hyundai Motorsport presented a new talent project together with the FIA, the project named FIA ​​Rally Champions World Tour is a concept that will last for at least three years.

Already from this year´s season, winners of the regional FIA rally championships will be offered a WRC round together with Hyundai Motorsport in the new Hyundai i20 Rally2 next season. This year´s winners from the African Rally Championship, Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, Codasur Rally Championship, Middle East Rally Championship and NACAM Rally Championship will each be guided during the 2022 season.

The project together with the FIA ​​is to help more drivers to take the step in to the WRC and give them the chance to be seen and tested in the series in its further development.