Bottas takes pole position, Hulkenberg qualifies in the top three and Vettel fails to reach Q3 at Silverstone for the first time. Here are all the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix!
BOTTAS ON POLE
Valtteri Bottas took pole position for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix with a margin of 0.063 seconds over team-mate Lewis Hamilton. It’s the thirteenth pole position of the Finn’s career, equalling the career totals of Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jacky Ickx, Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya and Mark Webber. Bottas also becomes the twelfth driver to have taken multiple pole positions at Silverstone.
Along with pole position, Valtteri Bottas set a new record for most consecutive Q3 appearances. This was the 67th consecutive race in which Bottas has qualified in the top ten, having done so at every race weekend since the 2017 Australian Grand Prix. He beats the previous record of 66 consecutive Q3 appearances, set by Lewis Hamilton between the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix and the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix.
Mercedes record their ninth consecutive pole position at Silverstone, becoming the first team to have taken nine consecutive poles at any track. They become the third team to have taken ten poles at Silverstone. This is Mercedes’ sixth front row lock-out at the circuit.
THE TOP TEN
While this is only the second time in the last seven Silverstone races that Lewis Hamilton has not started from pole position, it is the sixth consecutive race where he has started on the front row.
Nico Hulkenberg qualified in an impressive third place for Racing Point. The 70th Anniversary Grand Prix is the fourth time that Hulkenberg has lined up in the top three on the grid. He also did so at the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix, the 2013 Italian Grand Prix and the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix.
Nico Hulkenberg’s third place in qualifying is the Silverstone-based team’s best Saturday result at their home track since Heinz-Harald Frentzen qualified on the front row for Jordan in 2000.
With Lance Stroll qualifying sixth, this is only the third time that both of the Silverstone-based team’s drivers have qualified in the top six at Silverstone. Their drivers also did so in their Jordan guise in 1996 and 1999.
Pierre Gasly recorded his team’s second-best Silverstone qualifying result. Gasly qualified seventh for AlphaTauri at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. The only time that has been beaten at Silverstone was at the 2013 British Grand Prix, when Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth for Toro Rosso.
OUT IN Q2
For the first time since 2014, a Ferrari driver failed to reach Q3 at Silverstone. That driver was Sebastian Vettel, who made this the first time in fourteen visits to Silverstone that he has failed to reach Q3. Twelfth place is Vettel’s worst qualifying position without suffering a mechanical issue since the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
In the 68 races before the 2020 season, Ferrari failed to reach Q3 three times. In the first five races of the 2020 season, Ferrari have failed to reach Q3 three times.
Carlos Sainz qualified in thirteenth place, making this the first time that a McLaren driver has failed to reach Q3 since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. It also means that Mercedes are now the only team to have reached Q3 with both cars at every race in 2020.
Romain Grosjean recorded a fifth Q2 elimination at Silverstone. Only Sergio Perez has had more Q2 exits at the track, having been eliminated in the session seven times.
George Russell reached Q2 for a fourth consecutive race weekend. He’s the first Williams driver to reach Q3 at four consecutive races since Felipe Massa at the end of the 2017 season.
OUT IN Q1
Kevin Magnussen recorded his fourth Silverstone Q1 exit. Only his former team-mate Jenson Button, with six, has had more Q1 eliminations at the circuit.
For a sixth consecutive weekend, both Alfa Romeo drivers were eliminated in Q1. This is only the second time in his career that Kimi Raikkonen has qualified last as a result of pure pace alone. The only other time it has happened was at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix.