F1 | Mercedes, Hamilton: “It's just a small step forward, tomorrow's race will be tough”

The best performance of the Silverstone qualifying sessions bears the signature of Lewis Hamilton. In front of his friendly public, the seven-time world champion returned to dictating the law, despite a final flaw which however did not deny him the possibility of maintaining the leadership, preceding Max Verstappen by just 75 thousandths. Tomorrow the Mercedes standard-bearer will therefore start ahead of everyone in the sprint race, the order of which will decide the starting grid for the British Grand Prix which will take place on Sunday.

"Arriving at the Silverstone GP and having the grandstands packed with spectators is a completely different energy – declared Hamilton – I hoped that with all the work of the team and the support of the public it would take us to first place, I think I also owe this result to the public. Red Bull was very fast in the test sessions, we did our job trying to improve gradually. This morning I did some simulator work to replace a test situation since we had the morning free. We basically left no stone unturned".

Haailton, completing his analysis of the qualifications, then added: “The first attempt was great, the second one looked better but then unfortunately I lost the rear at the last corner: my heart was in my mouth when I crossed the finish line. But I could see the crowd and it reminded me of my first pole here in 2007. I couldn't have done all this without the people here. I really thank everyone. It's an incredibly special pole because we're at home. It's just a small step forward, there's tomorrow's race which will be tough. I think I got the car into a good position. The work must be completed in the next two days".