George Russell claimed pole position for the British Grand Prix following an exhilarating wet-to-dry qualifying session at Silverstone. Lewis Hamilton finished second with Lando Norris rounding out a one-two-three finish for the home heroes.
The Silverstone tarmac was still drying when the lights went green in Q1, meaning all 20 drivers strapped on sets of intermediate tyres and started laying down continuous laps. Max Verstappen, Norris and the two Mercedes drivers were the early frontrunners as the dry line appeared and lap times tumbled.
With nine minutes remaining the crossover point arrived, and almost immediately there was a casualty. Sergio Perez found the gravel at Copse, beaching his RB20 and bringing a disastrous end to his qualifying session.
When the drivers returned to the track, the threat of rain was imminent and the times tumbled before flecks of rain appeared in the sky. Verstappen and Norris were both lucky to escape the drop zone, but in the end, it was Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas and the two Alpine drivers who joined Perez in the bottom five.
There was another scalp in Q2. Charles Leclerc was unable to secure his place in the final part of qualifying, while Max Verstappen limped to P6 with damage to the underside of his Red Bull. Also eliminated in the second session were the two VCARB racers, Zhou Guanyu and Logan Sargeant.