Hamilton takes pole for Silverstone sprint race

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton pipped Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli to a stunning pole position for the sprint race at the British Grand Prix.

Hamilton, a record nine-time winner of his home race, took top spot from the championship leader by just 0.011 seconds.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third fastest, but 0.321secs off the pace.

Mercedes’ George Russell, 40 points adrift of Antonelli in the championship, was a disappointing fifth behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, the world champion and winner of this grand prix last year, was sixth fastest ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and British rookie Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.

The packed grandstands of about 150,000 fans cheered Hamilton raucously as he crossed the line and moved ahead of Antonelli.

Hamilton said: “Wow. OK. I like it. I love this place. I love this crowd. I can’t express to you how big a dream it is, and the flow you can get into around this place if you can get the set-up in the right place.

“We’re ahead of Mercedes. They have so much power, these guys. We did not expect we would be competing for the front row, so it’s an amazing surprise. I’m ecstatic.”

Ferrari had a difficult race last weekend in Austria, despite Hamilton taking his first win for his new team in Barcelona the race before that, but the seven-time champion said some small upgrades to the car had helped them get back on top.

“We brought some tiny bits here,” he said. “I am really pleased to get pole. It was only 10 milliseconds or something like that and the team really deserve it.”

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