2026 British Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell
3 hours ago
2 min read

For the first time ever, Sprint Qualifying took place around Silverstone on a sunny Friday evening!

SQ1

In Sprint Qualifying 1, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso, and Lance Stroll were the six slowest drivers! Haas’ drop off in terms of performance is clearly getting worse with each passing weekend, with both cars getting knocked out in SQ1! On that, though, Oliver Bearman was well over 6 tenths clear of Esteban Ocon! As always, Cadillac locked out the 10th row, with Sergio Perez again clear of Valtteri Bottas, whilst we then have to drop another 9 tenths further back to find the Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll! Aston are diabolical! It was a Ferrari 1-2 in SQ1, with Lewis Hamilton a tenth clear of Charles Leclerc!

SQ2

In Sprint Qualifying 2, Pierre Gasly, Gabriel Bortoleto, Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz, and Alex Albon all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! Just like last weekend, Pierre Gasly was less than a tenth off making it into the final part of Qualifying, whilst Gabriel Bortoleto managed to outqualify teammate Nico Hulkenberg in an Audi 12-13! Franco Colapinto was miles off his Alpine teammate in 14th, whilst Williams were at least able to make it into SQ2 this week, albeit a long way off the rest of the pack! Speaking of, Carlos Sainz was over 4 and a half tenths faster than Alex Albon! Hamilton once again topped SQ2, this time ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes!

SQ3

In Sprint Qualifying 3, a rapid 1:28.376 was enough for Lewis Hamilton to take Sprint Pole on his Home Race weekend! Lewis topped SQ1, SQ2, and SQ3; I’d call that perfection! For the fourth time this year, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will start from P2 in a Sprint Race, missing out on Sprint Pole by just 11 thousandths of a second, whilst a very satisfied Max Verstappen will start from P3! Neither Charles Leclerc nor George Russell had particularly good days, qualifying 4th and 5th respectively after being 3 tenths off their teammate, whilst Lando Norris was able to edge out a disappointed Oscar Piastri in the McLaren head-to-head battle! Whilst only P8, Isack Hadjar should be pleased to be within 1 and a half tenths of his 4-time World Champion teammate, whilst Racing Bulls once again ended up as best of the rest, with Liam Lawson heading Arvid Lindblad!