Valtteri Bottas edged out his Mercedes teammate, championship leader Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Formula One 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone on Saturday with Nico Hulkenberg qualifying an impressive third place for Racing Point.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen joined the experienced German in the second row.
Bottas’ 13th career pole, and the first since the Austrian season opener last month, ended six-time world champion Hamilton’s bid for a fourth in a row and second at home on successive weekends.
He also secured a reversal of the grid from last Sunday’s British Grand Prix, held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which Hamilton achieved his 91st pole and won despite a puncture on the final lap.
“Things are going to be a little different from last weekend in terms of strategy,” said Bottas, who beat Hamilton by 0.063 seconds with a final fast lap on a hot afternoon.
“My expectations for tomorrow are nothing more than winning the race.”
Pirelli has brought in softer tire compounds for Sunday’s race, which means teams should have to make two stops rather than risk excessive wear as they did last weekend.
The front row lockout was a record 67 for Mercedes, which has taken all poles so far this season and won four of four.
Hamilton congratulated the Finn for ending his own streak of three in a row.
“Valtteri did a fantastic job today. A bit too fast for me, ”said the Briton, who leads his teammate by 30 points and looks set to match Michael Schumacher’s record of 155 podiums on Sunday.
“In the end, he did a better job.”
INCREDIBLE HULK
Mercedes was always expected to dominate, but Hulkenberg, on a controversial weekend for his team, who has been fined and scored 15 points for copied brake lines on his “pink Mercedes”, stood out.
The German replaces Mexico’s Sergio Pérez, who failed another COVID-19 test this week, for the second consecutive race. He was unable to start at Silverstone last Sunday due to an engine problem.
Famous for never having been on the podium in 177 starts, Hulkenberg now has another chance just when he thought his hopes were dashed after Renault dropped him at the end of last season.
“Last week, or last weekend, it was really extreme,” he said. “Getting back to the paddock without any preparation, 10 minutes before the session, was challenging, to say the least, but a lot of fun at the same time.
“I felt much better prepared for this weekend. I didn’t think much, I just tried to squeeze the whole car, the tires, and myself. Very happy to be here. ”
Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth for Renault, Canadian Lance Stroll sixth for Racing Point.
Charles Leclerc was the top-ranked Ferrari driver in eighth place, and his teammate, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, failed to make the top-10 session and qualified only in 12th.
However, Vettel will start 11th after Renault’s Esteban Ocon lost three places for obstructing Williams’ George Russell.
Ferrari had changed the engines of both cars before qualifying after Vettel suffered a failure in practice on Friday, but they clearly had problems.
Vettel even used softer tires to try to reach the finals but to no avail.
George Russell put Williams back in the second phase, while Alfa Romeo, which won the first race of the world championship at Silverstone in 1950, will line up with their cars at the rear of the grid.
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