Sainz snatches pole in thrilling session: 2022 British GP qualifying report

An exciting qualifying session at a wet Silverstone saw Carlos Sainz emerge the pole-sitter for the 2022 British Grand Prix.

As his team-mate Charles Leclerc spun and Verstappen went off track on their final efforts, the Spaniard kept his cool to set the fastest time on his 150th grand prix weekend.

The Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell looked competitive, but ended up fifth and eighth respectively.

Lando Norris managed to take sixth for McLaren whilst Nicholas Latifi equalled his best-ever starting position coming in 10th.

Here’s the 2022 British GP qualifying as it happened.

Q1

Teams scrambled for intermediate tyres as the heavens opened on Silverstone minutes before qualifying started, and it was the Williams and Haas teams who got to the end of the pitlane first to get a lap in.

Cars immediately jockeyed for position on the out-lap, but the Alpines were stranded in the garage as their team raced to get their cars ready.

Ricciardo was advised that the rain would stop with five minutes to go, but the field pressed on to bank a lap – Charles Leclerc topped the charts early with a 1min 47.521sec.

Hamilton slotted into second, 0.3sec off the Ferrari, with George Russell just behind.

Verstappen then blew them all away with a 1min 45.743sec, with an impressive Alex Albon 1.2sec behind.

The time were tumbling as drivers acclimatised to the conditions – Leclerc bettered Verstappen by 2sec, before the Dutchman responded by going 0.2sec faster.

With eight minutes to go the rain stopped, but drivers stuck with the intermediates – Russell went fastest by 0.4sec, but again Verstappen struck back: his 1min 40.452sec was 1.4sec clear of the field.

Cars kept circling, and with five minutes left on the clock an impressive Zhou Guanyu put himself fifth with a 1min 41.845sec.

The times continued to flood in, but Verstappen remained imperious at the top.

When Ricciardo went fastest to escape from Q1 there weren’t any great surprises left in the knockout zone, but some were still unhappy with the end result.

“How did that happen again? ***!” exclaimed Vettel, referencing Aston Martin’s Canadian qualifying disaster as he could only manage 18th at Silverstone, whilst his team-mate Stroll was slowest.

Mick Schumacher was 19th and Haas team-mate Magnussen 17th, behind a 16th-placed Albon, who was also far from content.

“Why are we doing cool down laps? I really don’t understand! ***!” said the Williams driver, who had the updated Grove car this weekend, but failed to put it to good use.

Q2

The wet conditions remained similar for the start of Q2, as Hamilton complained of a big vibration on his tyres.

However, rain then started to come down harder and it was Verstappen on top once more once the first runs were completed.

A 1min 41.486sec put him first, but there was an impressive name just behind: Norris was second, 0.4sec off the Red Bull.

Verstappen went even quicker with a 1min 40.655sec, whilst Hamilton was his closest challenger again 0.4sec off.

The big name is trouble was Sainz who was mired down in 14th, while there were no such worries for Latifi, who went ninth on the old-spec Williams.

Sainz lifted then himself to fourth with 6min 30sec left, a second off Verstappen.

“It’s raining quite a bit more” said Leclerc, with five minutes remaining, and thus no-one was improved.

The surprise in the knockout zone was Valtteri Bottas, the Finn stuck in 12th place.

The heavy rain also left Ocon in 15th, Ricciardo 14th, Tsunoda 13th and Gasly 11th.

Latifi equalled effort to just get into Q3, whilst Zhou impressed in ninth.

Q3

The rain held off the Q3 but drivers still stayed on intermediates.

Verstappen had a lurid moment of oversteer as he began his flying lap and continued in the same vein, as he span coming out of Copse.

Zhou was more composed though, the Alfa driver a shock fastest driver early on with a 1min 49.454sec, before being deposed by Alonso – quicker by 3.227sec.

“Track’s improving – drying up,” said Perez, as Leclerc set the a headline time of 1min 44.844sec, followed by Verstappen in second who ran off track in the final corner as his ragged session continued.

He then made amends with a 1min 42.996sec, whilst Norris filed in second, 0.3sec away.

Hamilton got closer, 0.25sec off the Red Bull, as Russell got within 0.9sec.

Verstappen was instructed to “keep pushing” with the expectation of more rain, but it was Leclerc who improved, getting within a quarter of a second of his championship rival.

Hamilton got closer to Verstappen – just 0.027sec away – as Alonso pushed himself up to third, 0.122sec off the ultimate pace.

Leclerc then snatched provisional pole with a minute to go, but Verstappen immediately bested him with a 1min 45.055sec, and both readied themselves for one more run.

However, it was a dark horse who will start first tomorrow, as Carlos Sainz went fastest at the death with a 1min 40.983sec, the first of his career.

Leclerc spun, meaning he starts third, whilst Verstappen lifted for the resulting yellow flag, losing him 0.4sec and leaving him second tomorrow.

Perez came in fourth, whilst fifth was the best Hamilton could manage, with Mercedes likely to be disappointed as Russell ended in eighth. Norris looked like he might snatch a shock result but had to settle for sixth.

Alonso put his Alpine seventh, with Zhou ninth and Latifi tenth.

2022 British Grand Prix qualifying results