F1 in Silverstone: Max Verstappen grabs pole – another debacle for Sergio Pérez

Max Verstappen is where he always is at the start of a Formula 1 race: right at the front. However, something unusual happened behind the Red Bull driver during qualifying for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The two McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri flew to second and third on the last two laps. “I was surprised to see these two guys there,” said Verstappen: “A great job they did.”

Norris was happy about the success in front of his home crowd, but struggled a bit with the missed opportunity to even take first place on the grid. “Max always breaks everything,” he said with a big grin. The 22-year-old Piastri, who has only been in Formula 1 since the start of the season, verbally stumbled a bit through his statement. “I’ve never experienced anything like it, it’s an incredible feeling. In the end I managed to put together a super lap.”

He – and thus the established ones – turned a long nose. The two Ferraris with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz followed in fourth and fifth place, followed directly by Mercedes with George Russell and record world champion Lewis Hamilton. The night before, Mick Schumacher had been looking for the best data on the Mercedes simulator until 2:15 a.m. – but it wasn’t enough for Russell and Hamilton to be at the top.

Max Verstappen rules lonely there, although he made a rare faux pas on Saturday. Driving out of the pits, his Red Bull swerved and hit the wall, damaging the front wing to such an extent that it had to be replaced. It was even worse for Sergio Perez, who retired again in Q1 and was only 16th at the start.

Nico Hülkenberg did a little better, coming eleventh in the Haas and just missing out on the top ten. The Finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo-Ferrari), initially in 15th place, will start from the back because he had too little fuel in the tank after qualifying.

Verstappen before sixth win in a row

Since the race in Miami in early May, Verstappen has won every Grand Prix, and a win on Sunday (4 p.m.) would be the sixth in a row. In the history of Formula 1, only Sebastian Vettel, Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg have reached this mark.

His racing team’s streak lasted even longer. Red Bull has won every Grand Prix this season, nine wins in a row so far – only McLaren started better in 1988, with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, the team clinched the first eleven wins of the season. Cheers at all: Exactly 33 years ago to the day, on July 8, 1990, the four-time world champion clinched the 100th Formula 1 victory for Ferrari at his home Grand Prix in France.

While Prost won 199 Grand Prix and four World Championship titles in his career, the Formula 1 career of the young Dutchman Nyck de Vries could soon be over, at least for the time being. At Silverstone, rumors grew that de Vries was to be replaced by Australian veteran Daniel Ricciardo in the next race on the Zandvoort circuit in the dunes.

(SID)