2021 British Grand Prix F1 Sprint report: Verstappen defeats Hamilton in thrilling F1 Sprint at Silverstone to claim pole position at Sunday’s Grand Prix

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won F1’s first Sprint at the iconic Silverstone circuit, earning three points and pole position for the British Grand Prix on Sunday, as he triumphed over the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas .

With all the top 10s at the start of the 17-lap Sprint F1 on medium tires, with the exception of Bottas’s Mercedes on used softs, Verstappen was incisive from the start of second on the grid, overtaking the Mercedes of Hamilton – who had started P1 – in Abbey, although flames were seen licking his left front wheel off the grid.

AS IT HAPPENED: Catch all the action from the very first Sprint F1 at Silverstone

Fans were then treated to an exciting first lap, with Verstappen resisting Hamilton’s attempts – including a daring attempt to get around Red Bull at Copse – while Fernando Alonso impressively used his starting softer tires to switch from the 11th to 5th, as the two Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin touched each other in the Village complex, with Mazepin spinning.

Qualifying hero George Russell also made contact in the first round with Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, with Sainz faring less well falling to P18 – the incident to be investigated after the session by the stewards.

As the drivers settled in, Verstappen managed to close the gap on Hamilton, who complained about not having a response to the Dutchman’s pace, with both cars developing blisters on their medium tires.

Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez, however, found himself embarrassed, as he put the throttle too early out of Chapel and spun his Red Bull on lap 5, falling to 19th place – the Mexican ultimately retired before the end.

Hamilton had asked his racing engineer Pete Bonnington for more power from his Mercedes W12. But eventually, as the laps went by quickly, Verstappen was able to widen the gap on his title rival to clinch the F1 Sprint victory 1.4 seconds behind Hamilton and take pole for the Grand Prix de Grande. -Brittany of tomorrow.

Behind, despite the race for soft drinks, Bottas was able to keep the P3 of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo placing fifth and sixth, after demoting Alonso from the quick start to P7.

WATCH: Perez drops to 19th place after huge spin

Sebastian Vettel took 8th place, having narrowly missed passing Alonso on the 17th and final lap, as Russell and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10.

Sainz did a good job of recovering from his crash in the 1st lap, finishing 11th after a series of neat overtaking, while Pierre Gasly will line up 12th for the British Grand Prix, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo, who did well to finish 13th after the start P17.

Lance Stroll finished 14th for Aston Martin, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi from Alfa Romeo, Yuki Tsunoda from AlphaTauri and second Williams from Nicholas Latifi. only retreat.

So, after the very first Sprint F1, it was Max Verstappen who won his fifth pole of the year, as well as three points – Hamilton winning two and Bottas one. But with Perez set to start from behind in the British Grand Prix and two Mercedes starting alongside Verstappen, the action is far from over at Silverstone this weekend.

The key quote

“It’s hard to pass here, but we had a good start and a good fight with Lewis on the first lap and then we tried to keep our own pace. But you could see we were pushing each other a lot because at the end of the race the tires were puncturing a lot so we had to deal with that until the end.

“Nevertheless, happy to have scored three points. It seems a little funny to hear afterwards that you have scored a pole position, but anyway, we’ll take it. I think it will be a really exciting and exciting battle tomorrow ”- Max Verstappen, Red Bull

The key moment

As mentioned above, the start was electric as Verstappen took off from the line to take the lead from P1 starter Hamilton, who then fought to try to regain position, while Russell and Sainz were in contact. further into the field. Find out in the video below …

The biggest movers

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were the biggest winners after qualifying on Friday, both gaining four places in the Sprint F1 – Alonso from P11 to P7, as Raikkonen moved up from P17 to P13.

And after?

The grid is now set for Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, which starts at 3:00 p.m. local time. And with a Mercedes not starting on pole here for the first time in nine years, follow all the action on F1.com and F1 TV.