MAX FOR HISTORY, WINNER OF INAUGURAL SPRINT QUALIFYING

Max Verstappen made history by winning the first Sprint Qualifying of the FIA Formula One World Champion at Silverstone after he beat title rival Lewis Hamilton off the line in a thrilling fight to the flag that left Hamilton with second place ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. However, the new format was tough on Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez who spun off early on. He dropped to 19th place and then retired his car just before the chequered flag.

Verstappen’s win was secured at the race start. From his P2 grid slot the Red Bull driver made a superb getaway to power ahead of Hamilton as the frontrunners roared towards Turn 1. Behind them, Bottas settled into third place ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the Alpine of Fernando Alonso who also made a great start, climbing from 11th place to fifth at the end of the opening lap.

Behind them, though, Pérez dropped back. He quickly fought back to seventh place but then, on lap six, as he pushed to close in on McLaren’s Lando Norris, he lost control and spun off. He managed to keep his car out of the wall but he rejoined in P19.

At the front Verstappen was beginning to build a gap and on lap eight he had two seconds in hand over title rival Hamilton. Bottas was a further three seconds back with Leclerc fourth, while Norris was now fifth after managing to get past Alonso.

The Alpine driver, who had started on soft tyres, was trying to hang on but Norris’ team-mate Ricciardo was next to attack and the Australian muscled his way past the Spaniard on lap nine.

With three laps to go, Verstappen was firmly in control and despite noticeable blistering on his front right medium compound tyre, the Dutchman was a comfortable 2.3 seconds clear of the Mercedes driver who was also suffering with tyre wear.

Towards the rear of the field Pérez was struggling. He had climbed to P18 but in the final moments his team told him to retire from the Sprint and he thus qualified for the race in last place behind the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and 19th-placed Nikita Mazepin.

Eventually, after 17 exciting laps, Verstappen crossed the line 1.4s ahead of Hamilton to claim the eighth pole position of his career in a novel manner.

In a reverse to the front row after qualifying yesterday, Hamilton will start second, while Bottas will line up at the front of row two alongside Leclerc. McLaren locked out row three, with Norris ahead of Ricciardo and Alonso took seventh ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettell, Williams’ George Russell and the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

2021 BRITISH GP - SPRINT QUALIFYING 17 laps,; 100km., Weather: Sunny
CLASSIFICATION:
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	25:38.426
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	+ 1.430
3.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	+ 7.520
4.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 11.278
5.	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 24.111
6.	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	+ 30.959
7.	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	+ 43.527
8.	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	+ 44.439
9.	George Russell	Williams	+ 46.652
10.	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+ 47.395
11.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	+ 47.798
12.	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	+ 48.763
13.	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo	+ 50.677
14.	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 52.179
15.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	+ 53.225
16.	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+ 53.567
17.	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	+ 55.162
18.	Mick Schumacher	Haas	+ 1:08.215
19.	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	+ 1:17.648
20.	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	DNF
POINTS 3 - Max Verstappen - Red Bull 2 - Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG 1 - Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes AMG @МкФормула1 - РЕПУБЛИКА МАКЕДОНИЈА @MkFormula1 - REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA