The rain put great uncertainty on Saturday on the classification of the Formula 1 for him British Grand Prix, at Silverstone. And in the last seconds, already with the friendliest asphalt, the pole position obtained by the Dutchman was defined in pure vertigo max verstappen (Red Bull) moments after the local Lando Norris clocked the best time and received a standing ovation which went out immediately.

It looked like McLaren had given the shot, but the double world champion delivered an “epic” final lap, as he considered what happened in his later statements, and carried it back to second place. Likewise, the British team gave the big surprise having his two cars behind the tournament leader: the Australian Oscar Piastri was in third place.

There was also another moment of suspense for MadMax during the last outing of his box in Q1, when miscalculated and broke part of his wing by hitting it with the base of the street wall, which required the mechanics to rescue him a few steps from the box and make the change. But, as almost always these days, Verstappen overcame it all. “It was a pretty crazy qualifying, choppy and slippery in places, but we had some good laps,” said Max, who then received the traditional pole position wheel from Paulo Dybala, the world champion in Qatar 2022 with the Argentinian national team. Previously, La Joya had seen the triumph of his compatriot Franco Colapinto in the Formula 3 Sprint race.

Norris and Piastri were very quick at different points in qualifying, especially the first one, and in the final they almost caused the big impact of the season. In the club they celebrated it like a victory after a low yield start to the year. The happiness of both was in sight. “I was almost out in Q1 and Q2, but the car was like a rocket in Q3″, compared the Australian, whose McLaren improved performance without water on the circuit.

The Spaniard Fernando Alonso He was 19/1000 from not passing Q1, in a difficult day, but he finally managed to be in the decisive stage with Aston Martin. However, he was only 9th, behind the Monegasque Ferrari Charles Leclerc and spanish Carlos Sainz, of the Mercedes of the British Lewis Hamilton And george russell and the Williams of Alexander Albon, that he couldn’t confirm all the good things about the training sessions. The Frenchman will come out of tenth place Pierre Gasley (Alpine).

The first few minutes had been experimental. The pilots went out to measure how far they could accelerate and in these circumstances the British Lewis Hamilton came off the track at the last corner, when he came to close a corner that would leave him alone for the rest of Q1. The Mercedes driver managed to return to the circuit without the car stalling and later was able to accelerate as needed.

Three minutes from the end of this segment, al Haas de Kevin Magnussen The engine went out and he was stopped on the track, which forced a red flag and condemned the classification of the Dane, without the possibility of continuing to drive: he will start last. In the meantime, the asphalt has dried up a bit and the restart has been crazy changes in a single lap and with a big hit: Sergio “Checo” Pérez was unable to advance to Q2.

The Mexican, who left first to have a free track, added another frustration, the fifth in a row with Red Bull, and finished 16th, only ahead of the Japanese. Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri), the Chinese guanyu zhou (Alfa Romeo), the Dutch nyck devries (Alpha Tauri) and Magnussen. “It was difficult at the end because we spent more time in the pit lane. We had a good position on the track, but bad tire temperatures. justified who will start for the fifth time in a row behind tenth place, since he had just finished 20th, 11th, 12th and 15th in the last four Grands Prix.

The risks of not reaching Q1 were also repeated for several of the main protagonists, on a track of changing conditions in the second part of the classification. The Mercedes were on the edge when the checkered flag was lowered and the German’s fate was sealed Nico Hukenberg (11th) with Haas, the Canadian Spear Stroll (12th) with his Aston Martin, the French Esteban Ocon (13th) with the Alpine and the American Sergeant Logan (14th) with a Williams. finnish Valtteri Bottas (15th) had a failure in his Alfa Romeo and marked the time.

The British Grand Prix kicks off this Sunday, at 10 a.m. Argentine time, with an eye on the starting grid and the weather forecast.

Leclerc dominated last practice

The third Formula 1 practice session at Silverstone had just over half an hour of speed. The rains came, they intensified quickly and there was no chance of improving times. In this context, Leclerc ended up with the fastest lap with his Ferrari by scoring 1m27s419/1000. Later, on the water, the Monegasque tried to test, but the circuit did not forgive any negligence and we saw him spinning on the track.

In second place, the surprising Albon (Williams), who finished at 173/1000, and Alonso (Aston Martin) finished third, with a record he reached immediately after putting on soft tires and starting to rain.

The Red Bulls were not risking too much: Verstappen was the better placed of the two, in eighth place. At one point only Ocon (Alpine) was running, with a time 12 seconds quicker than the fastest.

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