British GP Report: Verstappen Beats Hamilton Off the Line to Take ‘Pole’ as Sprint Race Format Makes a Glorious F1 Debut

Max Verstappen fended off massive threats from Lewis Hamilton to secure the first-ever F1 sprint race win, consequently taking his fourth consecutive pole position of the season.

Behind the hard-battling duo is Valtteri Bottas, who delivered a decent level of performance to slot his Mercedes into P3, right behind his teammate. Charles Leclerc managed to keep his P4 from qualifying to lock out the second row.

Then came Lando Norris, to accomplish yet another top 5 start to an F1 race this season. The other McLaren driver, Daniel Ricciardo, finally managed to enjoy an incredible grid position for Sunday’s race, as the Australian will line up P6.

Alonso grabbed onto P7 after a hard-fought battle with Sebastian Vettel, with the latter lining up in P8. George Russell managed to secure P9 for Williams, with Esteban Ocon closing out the top 10.

How the F1 race unfolded

Bottas started the race on soft tires along with three other drivers while the rest of the grid opted for mediums. Verstappen had a blinding getaway, as the Dutchman beat Hamilton to move onto the lead. Meanwhile, the other Red Bull driver had a horror start; the Mexican fell further down to P8.

Alpine driver Alonso enjoyed an astonishing start to the race, as he pushed himself up to P5 ahead of Norris. But the Briton managed to reclaim the position by as early as lap 6, and then his teammate Ricciardo made his jump on Alonso on lap 9.

After attacking early on in the race, it gradually turned into a game of defense for the Spaniard, as Vettel was right on his rear wing for a handful of laps. However, despite desperate efforts, the Aston Martin driver never found his way past Alonso.

Behind the train of mid-field cars was Sainz, who recovered quite well from the lap 1 incident to secure P11 on Sunday’s starting grid.

Incidents during the race

On the very first lap of the race, Nikita Mazepin ended up being the first driver to endure a spin after tangling with his very own teammate. Up ahead, there was another touch between Russell and Sainz around turn 6, as the latter fell down to P15.

Then arrived a scary spin from Perez around the exit of Becketts, as the Red Bull driver ended up down in P19. He also ended up being the only retirement of the race after driving his car into the Red Bull garage on the very last lap. Hence, the Mexican will start the race from last on the grid.

Overall, that was an enthralling 30-minute session to watch for the entire F1 fandom. After a long time, fans managed to catch all drivers pushing their cars to the absolute limit.

But, of course, the drivers are only halfway into the weekend, and the main race is yet to take place. So, who is going to win those big points at the British Grand Prix this weekend?