Hamilton edges Antonelli for Silverstone sprint pole

AFP | Silverstone

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Lewis Hamilton seized pole position for Saturday's Sprint at the British Grand Prix, edging rookie Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli by just 0.011 seconds in a tense qualifying shootout at Silverstone yesterday.

Briton Lewis Hamilton, driving for Ferrari, clocked a best lap of 1 minute 28.376 seconds in SQ3 to secure top spot on home soil, narrowly beating Antonelli's 1:28.387 as Red Bull's Max Verstappen took third ahead of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. George Russell lined up fifth, just ahead of McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completing the top 10 for Saturday's 17-lap Sprint.

Hamilton had signalled his intentions early, topping the lone practice session and then leading SQ1 and SQ2 before delivering under pressure in the final one-lap dash on soft tyres. Norris and Piastri briefly held provisional pole in SQ3 before Antonelli moved ahead, only for Hamilton to electrify the home crowd by finding the decisive margin on his final effort. Russell, struggling for pace throughout the afternoon, salvaged fifth but ended more than three tenths off his team mate's benchmark.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly missed out on SQ3 by less than a tenth, heading the Audi duo Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg, while Franco Colapinto took 14th ahead of Williams drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon. Haas's Oliver Bearman was the first to be eliminated in SQ1, falling short of progression by just 0.010 seconds, as Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll also dropped out, the Aston Martins more than 3.6 seconds off Hamilton's early pace.