Kimi Antonelli will start his second F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone from pole as Charles Leclerc looks to leave his early summer missteps behind and Lewis Hamilton looks to bounce back to his early weekend success.
Mercedes sent Kimi Antonelli out first in qualifying for the Great Britain Grand Prix, a decision he was not in agreement with, but it proved fruitful as the WDC leader set an unbeatable lap of 1:28.111 to capture pole on Saturday afternoon.
"I was a bit stressed because I never really liked going first for the last run, but yeah, the last half was very tidy," Antonelli told F1TV. "I have to be honest, it came altogether. It was very tricky with the wind because it was very gusty and unpredictable. But yeah, we built our way through qualifying and to bring the pole home is very satisfying."
View Price on AmazonAntonelli will have the challenge of two Ferraris starting behind him, with Charles Leclerc returning to form with a front-row starting spot and Lewis Hamilton disappointed with third.
The Ferrari drivers carry two opposite sets of emotions about their podium starting spots, with Leclerc happy to put some of the hard luck and bad performances of the last few weeks behind him.
"I'm pleased," Leclerc said. "I mean, it's been a few tough races where the feeling was not quite right, where I was struggling to put everything together. On the Sundays, we've had things that sometimes we couldn't score points. So to be back with a good feeling, there's been so much work behind the scene to get back that feeling inside the car. But today is probably the first time where I had it back. So that is a good thing, but at the same time, I know how much I've struggled to be consistent recently. So it's only the beginning, but it's a good step in the right direction."
On the other side of the spectrum, Hamilton is feeling like he faded from his earlier weekend success, including topping Friday practice, a sprint pole, and a runner-up finish in the Sprint this morning.
"Am I satisfied?," Hamilton repeated. "Of course not. I’m P3, but I'm happy to be up here. These guys did a great job today. Charles obviously has been making good improvements, and yeah, we just didn't have the pace, unfortunately, of the Mercedes, that has been kind of a thing for a while, but we're slowly closing the gap, and to have both of us up here is great for the team."
Source: roadandtrack.com
