British Grand Prix Qualifying: Bottas denies Hamilton 5th straight Pole at Silverstone

Modified Jul 14, 2019 14:02 GMT

Hamilton has already beaten pole-sitting Bottas twice this season

Thousands of fans flocked to Silverstone to see a Mercedes car claim pole position. Well, it did. But much to the dismay of the British fans, it was not the number 44 car that put up the fastest lap as Valtteri Bottas out qualified Lewis Hamilton by 0.006s to deny the five time world champion a fifth straight pole at his home Grand Prix.

Continuing their domination this season, the Silver Arrows locked out another 1-2 at Silverstone with Ferrari's Leclerc and Red Bull's Max Verstappen locking out the second row. An error in the first lap of Q3 cornering Brooklands ended up costing Hamilton 0.3s over his teammate. He could never make up for it in his second lap and that crushed the British fans' hopes of the defending world champion take his 5th straight pole.

"It wasn't good enough," said Hamilton, certainly upset about losing Pole to his teammate.

"We worked hard but it got away from us. I had that mistake on the first lap and the second one wasn't that great. Tomorrow is a long race, but we have got a great crowd here so hopefully I can do something. It is the best grand prix of the whole year. Without people like this to fill it up, and bring energy it would be nothing, so that is why we have got the best fans in England."

The flying Finn was ecstatic about starting at the front. "It feels good. It has been close all weekend with Lewis and it was great to get in a good lap and get pole. I knew that the first lap was good but it was not perfect. I should have improved in the second run. It is easy to make mistakes so I am happy to be on top."

Bottas, having the best season of his career so far, would be looking to win from the front tomorrow. His last win coming in Baku, the Finn would be determined to not let Hamilton slip away at the top of the championship standings. With his future at Mercedes a question mark, this year is his best chance to become a world champion. All is not done yet, as Hamilton has already beaten a pole-sitting Bottas twice this season and would love to give his fans a cause to cheer tomorrow.

Gasly seems to be improving his stint with Red Bull qualifying 5th after being fastest in FP1. Already 78 points behind Hamilton in the championship standings, Vettel had yet another appalling session qualifying sixth. Unless Ferrari and Vettel change things in the garage and get some victories, the German's chances of a 5th world championship seems bleak.

Ricciardo was happy with out-qualifying both the Mclarens to finish 7th fastest. After a pretty tough Friday, it was clear Renault was not as quick as the Mclarens in Silverstone's famous high-speed corners. But the Aussie put his foot down to qualify above Lando Norris and he was the best of the rest.

Lando Norris continued his great form by qualifying 8th at his first home Grand Prix. The young Alex Albon qualified 10th and would be looking to grab some points tomorrow. George Russel continued to out-qualify his veteran teammate by a large margin albeit finishing in 19th place.

Final Qualifying times: