Carlos Sainz Takes First F1 Pole After Very Wet British Grand Prix Qualifying Shootout

Carlos Sainz has taken pole position for Scuderia Ferrari at the Silverstone Circuit, which was soaked with rain throughout all three sessions. On a day where Max Verstappen looked set to take pole yet again, the Spaniard was able to steal the top spot in the dying moments of the session to take the first pole position of his career.

Sainz somewhat struggled in the earlier sessions to get a good lap on the board, but was able to set a lap in the optimal track conditions for his tyres, while mistakes from team-mate, Charles Leclerc, and championship leader, Verstappen, prevented them from taking the first-place spot. Leclerc was able to set a time good enough for third place, while Verstappen put his car alongside Sainz on the front row.

The rest of the top ten

Sergio Pérez will start Sunday’s Grand Prix from fourth place, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was only able to put his Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team car in fifth, after looking strong all weekend. Team-mate, George Russell, was unable to get a good lap together at the end of Qualifying Three, disappointingly putting his Mercedes W13 in eighth place on the grid.

Lando Norris continued his streak of always reaching Qualifying Three at his home race, ending the session in the ‘best of the rest’ sixth place. It was an unfortunate day for Daniel Ricciardo, who celebrated his thirty third birthday on Friday, and was knocked out of Qualifying Two after not setting a lap quickly enough before the rain worsened. The Australian will start the race from fourteenth place on Sunday for McLaren F1 Team.

BWT Alpine F1 Team had a tricky day with new upgrades on their cars, with Fernando Alonso yet again qualifying well – this time, in seventh place. However, the session didn’t go quite as well for Esteban Ocon, who suffered the same fate as Ricciardo, and will start the race from fifteenth.

Image: Octane Photographic Ltd.

Guanyu Zhou continues what has been a brilliant rookie season, getting his Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN car into the third qualifying session, and ending it in ninth place. The Chinese driver scored points last time out in Canada, and will be hoping to replicate this achievement in the race on Sunday. On the other side of the garage, Valtteri Bottas was caught out by the weather, and was knocked out of Qualifying Two, setting a time good enough for twelfth place.

One of the biggest surprises of the British Grand Prix qualifying stages was Nicolas Latifi not just making it into the second part of qualifying, but also the third. The Williams driver, who is yet to score points in 2022, has the weaker of the two Williams packages as the British Team is testing upgrades on Alexander Albon‘s car. The Canadian set times at the perfect time to secure his places in Qualifying Two and Qualifying Three, and will line up on the grid in tenth place.

Albon, however, was unable to make it out of the first knockout stage, and qualified sixteenth, around three tenths off a time good enough to progress.

What happened behind?

It was another frustrating day for Scuderia AlphaTauri, who will have been hoping for a Qualifying Three chance, but sadly ended up with both drivers eliminated in Qualifying Two. Pierre Gasly narrowly missed out on a spot in Qualifying Three, setting a time good enough for eleventh; while his Japanese team-mate, Yuki Tsunoda, will start the race from thirteenth.

Haas F1 Team were unable to get either of their cars through to the second qualifying stage, which will be disappointing after getting both cars into Qualifying Three in Canada. The American outfit struggled in the rain and saw Kevin Magnussen put his car in seventeenth, while Mick Schumacher set a time good enough for nineteenth.

Sebastian Vettel was another driver that was frustrated with his qualifying position, once again failing to make it out of the first knockout stage. The four-time world champion will start the race on Sunday in eighteenth place; and team-mate Lance Stroll will start from twentieth and last, in what is the second race in a row where Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team have failed to get both cars out of Qualifying One.

Below you can find the full results of the British Grand Prix Qualifying session, data courtesy of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

POS	NO.	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1:40.190	1:41.602	1:40.983
2	1	Max Verstappen	NED	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:39.129	1:40.655	1:41.055
3	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:39.846	1:41.247	1:41.298
4	11	Sergio Pérez	MEX	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:40.521	1:42.513	1:41.616
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team	1:40.428	1:41.062	1:41.995
6	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:41.515	1:41.821	1:42.084
7	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:41.598	1:42.209	1:42.116
8	63	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team	1:40.028	1:41.725	1:42.161
9	24	Guanyu Zhou	CHN	Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN	1:40.791	1:42.640	1:42.719
10	6	Nicolas Latifi	CAN	Williams F1 Team	1:41.998	1:43.273	2:03.095
11	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:41.680	1:43.702
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN	1:41.396	1:44.232
13	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:41.893	1:44.311
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team,	1:41.933	1:44.355
15	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:41.730	1:45.190
16	23	Alexander Albon	THA	Williams F1 Team	1:42.078
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	1:42.159
18	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team	1:42.666
19	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Haas F1 Team	1:42.708
20	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team	1:43.430

Data courtesy of Formula 1.