Tight Qualifying Session at Silverstone Nets Second Row Start

After a challenging Friday, the team made several overnight changes as cooler conditions greeted the team for the weekend at Silverstone.

An unrepresentative FP3, which saw two red flags and the team run its final new set minutes earlier than others, left Qualifying something of an unknown.

After working their way through the first two segments, both George and Kimi only had one new set of the Soft compound to deploy in Q3.

They saved them for their final efforts with George putting in a superb lap to take P4, mere hundredths behind the two McLarens and ahead of both Ferraris.

Kimi meanwhile clocked a solid effort to take P7, although he still has a three-place grid penalty to serve following an opening lap collision last time out in Austria.

Overcast conditions are set to remain for tomorrow’s 52 lap contest with the threat of rain still lurking.

George Russell

I am very happy with P4 today as we’ve been off the pace at the very front all weekend. I would have definitely taken that if I had been offered it at the start of the day. We only had one new set of Soft tyres for Q3 so we had to make that final lap count. I thought I managed a solid effort and, whilst it is slightly frustrating to be just over one tenth off pole and a few hundredths from the front row, we’ve given ourselves a good chance of fighting for the podium on Sunday.

Tomorrow’s forecast is mixed which may offer some opportunities for us. We know just how changeable the weather can be here. It is also likely to be cooler and more overcast than we saw on Friday, so hopefully our long run pace is stronger than we showed in FP2. Whatever the situation, I am ready to give it my all at my home race and put on a show in front of this incredible British crowd.

Kimi Antonelli

It hasn’t been an easy weekend for us so far, but we were able to put in a solid performance come Qualifying. My lap was nothing special and I struggled in sector two, but the rest of the lap was OK. We’ve been lacking a bit of stability in the high-speed, which is not the feeling you want around a track like Silverstone with so many fast corners. On my final effort, the rear wasn’t quite as planted as I would have liked; that cost me a bit of confidence and probably a little bit of time too.

We will see what we can do tomorrow. We have to serve our three-place grid penalty from Austria which is not ideal but hopefully the conditions will present us with some opportunities. There is some rain on the forecast, and it should be much cooler than it was on Friday anyway. That should hopefully bring the car towards us. We will see what we’re facing come lights out and build from there.

Toto Wolff, CEO & Team Principal

P4 and P7 is not ever going to be our happy place but we can take some positives from the progress we made after a difficult Friday. George put in a superb effort to get onto the second row, just over one tenth of a second adrift of pole, hundredths behind the McLarens and ahead of both Ferraris. It was another good performance in a season full of them. He is driving fantastically at the moment and hopefully he can be looking ahead tomorrow and be in the fight for the podium.

For Kimi, he also took good steps from yesterday and P7 was a solid effort. Of course, he has a grid penalty to serve but he should have the pace to move forward. Tomorrow’s forecast is still mixed with some rain potentially on the radar. You never know what can happen in those conditions, particularly here at Silverstone. We will be aiming to take advantage of any opportunities that come our way and put on a strong showing.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

It's been a difficult weekend so far, so today’s result is positive even if it is not what we aim for. The car has been a bit unpredictable in all practice sessions, both in its balance and the pace on the single lap. Improving that has not come easy but we made progress come Qualifying.

George put together a very solid lap at the end of Q3. We were down to a single new Soft tyre by the final segment of the session, and that puts a lot of pressure on that final effort. To be less than a tenth and a half of a second to pole is a good result, although slightly frustrating that the gaps ahead put us just a few hundredths of a second from the front-row.

Kimi meanwhile was struggling with a lack of rear stability in the high-speed corners. It is difficult to explain that based on the setup across the two cars but we'll keep working to understand that. He will have more positions to make up tomorrow but hopefully his race pace is strong, and he can fight through. It looks like it will be very tight at the front tomorrow. We weren’t stellar on our long runs in the hotter conditions of Friday, but we’ve made some changes since then and it looks like we will be dealing with slightly cooler conditions tomorrow. Hopefully we can enjoy our best day of the weekend on Sunday and bring home some solid points.

FP3 Result

Qualifying Result

* +3 places grid penalty

** +10 places grid penalty