British Grand Prix: Qualifying Recap

Intermittent drizzle greeted the 20-strong field at the start of qualifying with Q1 initially seeing Hulkenberg and Magnussen take to the circuit on the Pirelli Cinturato Green intermediate tire. With the track drier than expected – but further rain a possibility, both VF-23s boxed immediately to swap onto P Zero Red soft rubber. 

Magnussen recorded an early run of 1:33.901 before bettering that to a 1:32.378. A follow up charge was underway when the Dane was forced to stop his car on the exit of Turn 15 with an oil pressure issue – a red flag stopping the session to recover his stricken car. Magnussen was left to see his time drop down the order eventually finishing P20.

Hulkenberg fared better despite seeing an early Q1 run on the softs deleted for exceeding track limits. The German had clocked a 1:32.292 before his teammate’s retirement forced the clock to stop. When the session resumed Hulkenberg successfully qualified his way into Q2 with a 1:29.603 effort – good for P15. 

Q2 saw Hulkenberg run two new sets of the soft compound. A best lap of 1:28.896 on his second set meant he came up just short of a Q3 appearance – Hulkenberg exiting British qualifying at the end of Q2 in P11.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen claimed a fifth consecutive pole position ahead of the surprise McLaren duo of home-favorite Lando Norris in second and Australian rookie Oscar Piastri in third.

Kevin Magnussen:

“It just doesn’t seem to be my year this one so far, but this is where you show experience, stay cool and keep fighting. Everything switched off in the car, I had no power steering, nothing, I don’t know what it was in Q1. Until that point it felt good compared to the rest of the weekend, I was on a decent lap to improve there – on the one I stopped. There was still time on the clock so I don’t know if that would have been the last one.”

Nico Hulkenberg:

“It was tricky obviously with the damp and wet patches, it’s quite sketchy, and it can go wrong but it didn’t. I think it was a good qualifying and I feel like I squeezed everything out of it. It was close with Alpine but not having DRS actually hurt us quite a bit. I think we’re a bit more ‘draggy’ and have more downforce than other cars, so missing DRS wasn’t ideal for us.”

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal

“Due to the changing conditions, it was very difficult to read into FP3. We did what we wanted to do but we took no conclusions from it because of the variable conditions, between the weather, track surface, and everything else. We knew that though and we tried a few things, and they went well. We just missed out on Q3 in qualifying, just by a bit, as Nico was very close behind a car in the very fast sector and obviously that’s not good, especially with our car. With Kevin, we had an issue with the oil system, we lost all the oil, but hopefully the engine isn’t damaged.”

Today's Data

Event: Qualifying for the British Grand Prix – Saturday July 8
Location: Silverstone Circuit, England
Layout: 5.891-kilometer (3.66-mile), 18-turn circuit
Weather: Drizzle / Cloud
Air Temps: 21 degrees Celsius (69.8 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 22 degrees Celsius (71.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
Team Result: Nico Hulkenberg qualified 11th, Kevin Magnussen qualified 20th 

Free Practice 3 (FP3) Rundown:

Magnussen: 15th overall (1:29.207), 13 laps completed
Hulkenberg: 19th overall (1:33.590), 13 laps completed
Fastest: Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari (1:27.419)

Q1 Qualifying: 18-mins with all 20 Drivers – Top 15 Advance to Q2

Hulkenberg: 15th overall (1:29.603) – Advanced to Q2
Magnussen: 20th overall (1:32.378) 
Fastest: Lando Norris of McLaren (1:28.917)

Q2 Qualifying: 15-mins – Top 10 Advance to Q3

Hulkenberg: 11th overall (1:27.702) 
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:27.702) 

Q3 Qualifying: 12-mins – Top 10 Drivers

Pole Winner: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:26.720)