Verstappen storms to British GP pole as Norris stars; Perez out in Q1

Max Verstappen claimed a fifth straight Formula 1 pole position at the British Grand Prix as Lando Norris secured P2 on the grid, but Sergio Perez was knocked out in Q1.

In a wet/dry Qualifying hour, Verstappen was not the clear favourite for pole position in the Red Bull, with DRS disabled throughout Q1 and Q2 with the track in damp conditions.

Perez failed to advance from Q1 and did not make Q3 for the fifth race in a row as he caught out by conditions improving late on, but teammate Verstappen was able to strengthen his vice-like grip on the title with a second Silverstone pole.

Norris stuck the McLaren on the front-row in second, having briefly gone fastest in Q3 as teammate Oscar Piastri took third.

The two Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton could only manage sixth and seventh, respectively as Hamilton slipped from second to seventh in Q3.

Q3

Verstappen was the only driver to take a fresh set of Softs for the first runs in Q3, posting a 1:27.084 effort, some 0.633s up on Hamilton with Piastri just behind.

As the field went again, this time on new tyres all around, Verstappen shaved time off to post a 1:26.720 to grab pole position but only usurping Norris at the death.

The British driver was only 10th after the first laps, but found 1.5s on his second attempt to vault up the order and fall 0.241s of taking pole from Verstappen.

Piastri took a career-best third on the grid, just a tenth behind Norris, and will share the second row with Charles Leclerc, who got the advantage over teammate Carlos Sainz - the 2022 pole-sitter.

Russell was able to out-qualify Hamilton who only found 0.5s on his second attempt to slip to seventh as the impressive Alex Albon was eighth, out-qualifying both Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly on merit.

Stroll fails to make Q3

Slick tyres were the order of the day in Q2, but a late squabble between Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon cost both a shot at Q3.

As they backed up to start laps, the duo got in each other's way and both were subsequently eliminated in 12th and 13th, respectively.

The other drivers to fall included Nico Hulkenberg in 11th and Logan Sargeant in 14th for Williams, as Valtteri Bottas did not head out following a power failure at the end of Q1.

At the front, the McLaren pair of Norris and Piastri set encouraging times to sit at the top of the leaderboard, but a late lap from Verstappen asserted his control over the session to top the segment.

Russell was the final driver through, getting through to Q3 by just 0.114s over Hulkenberg in the Haas.

Perez knocked out in Q1

Q1 could be considered as two sessions as Kevin Magunssen ground to a halt exiting Stowe, bringing out the red flag with 3:11 left on the clock.

Perez trundled to the end of the pit-lane, waiting for nine minutes for the restart and was first man over the line to post a time, vaulting up to second place.

Unfortunately for the Red Bull, the conditions continued to improve meaning those who started laps later on were able to go quicker.

He cross the line before the clock hit zero, but any late hopes were dashed as Bottas stopped on track, bringing out the yellow flags.

In a frantic ending, Norris pumped in the quickest time as Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc all saved themselves with last-ditch laps.

Perez fell by just 0.019s to Alonso in 15th, and was joined in the elimination zone by Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu, Nyck de Vries and Magnussen.