Hamilton takes a record-breaking home pole, Bottas equals the Q3 appearance streak record and both McLarens reach Q3 at Silverstone for the first time in six years. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2020 British Grand Prix!
Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the 2020 British Grand Prix, securing the 91st pole of his career. With his seventh pole at Silverstone, Hamilton has now had more poles at his home Grand Prix than any other driver.
Hamilton took pole by 0.313 seconds, marking the fourth time that pole has been decided by that margin in F1’s World Championship history. It is the same margin by which Hamilton took pole for the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix. In addition, Ayrton Senna took pole by 0.313 seconds at the 1985 European Grand Prix, as did Riccardo Patrese at the 1989 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Mercedes became the first team to take pole position on eight consecutive visits to a circuit. There have been only three occasions where a team has taken seven consecutive poles at a track, but Mercedes are the first to record eight in a row.
Mercedes’ pole position was their ninth at Silverstone and with Valtteri Bottas qualifying second, this was the fifth time that the team have locked out the front row at the British Grand Prix.
THE TOP TEN
Max Verstappen qualified in third place for the 2020 British Grand Prix, marking Red Bull’s first top three qualification at Silverstone since Verstappen himself qualified in third in 2016.
Both McLaren drivers reached Q3 at the British Grand Prix for the first time since 2014. Lando Norris’ fifth place is their best qualifying result at Silverstone since Jenson Button lined up third in 2014.
Lance Stroll’s sixth place marked the Silverstone-based team’s best qualifying result at their home track since Nico Hülkenberg qualified in fourth in 2014.
OUT IN Q2
Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly set identical lap times for tenth place in Q2, but as Stroll set the time first, he progressed to Q3 while Gasly was sidelined.
Alex Albon dropped out in Q2, recording Red Bull’s first failure to qualify in the top ten at the British Grand Prix since Daniel Ricciardo was eliminated in Q1 in 2017.
OUT IN Q1
George Russell progressed to Q2 and qualified in fifteenth place – though he would later be demoted five places on the grid, picking up a penalty for not respecting yellow flags. With Russell in Q2, this is the first time that Williams have had at least one car progress to Q2 at three consecutive races since the six races between the 2017 Malaysia Grand Prix and the 2018 Australian Grand Prix.
Kevin Magnussen qualified in eighteen, with team-mate Romain Grosjean in nineteenth. This was the first time that Haas have recorded a double Q1 elimination at the British Grand Prix. From his nine appearances at Silverstone, this was the first time that Grosjean has been eliminated in Q1.
With both Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi eliminated in Q1, this is the first time that both Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber) drivers have been eliminated in Q1 at the British Grand Prix since 2017. The team have now recorded double Q1 eliminations in all of the last five races.