2020 British Grand Prix: Qualifying Highlights

Grosjean, Latifi, Giovinazzi, Räikkönen and Magnussen are the five in the Elimination Zone at the moment. Kimi Räikkönen, five one-hundredths of a second inside the time he needs to lift his car out of the bottom five. And that is the Williams of Nicolas Latifi that has gone off. He turned to hold in his tyres. Yeah, that's the end of his qualifying. Well, certainly, I think Kimi was a lot further advanced than Latifi, so he's been able to carry on. But can't get out of that bottom five. Didn't have the grip on his tyres for the final sector and had to... Well, just couldn't get the traction that he wanted, I think, coming out of this Vale chicane that could give him those couple of tenths that he needed. Checker flag is out. Giovinazzi takes it. He's not got out of qualifying either. So George Russell, still the man at risk. But one by one, those that are threatening a Q2 appearance are falling by the wayside. So, next to cross the line, Kevin Magnussen can't lift himself out of the bottom five. George Russell is on for three consecutive Q2 appearances as it stands at the moment, but would surely like to be a little bit higher and a bit more comfortable than P15. He crosses the line, he goes ninth fastest. That is a very nice effort indeed, Mr. Saturday, George Russell. Spun, I spun. And he carries on, Martin, that 100% record to his team-mate, who's got that sinking feeling of just getting it all wrong around Luffield. I definitely backed off. You can see it on the throttle trace on the entry. Another one in control. We're on board now with Max Verstappen in the other Red Bull. Well, into the low 1.26s with that particular run and about four tenths between Verstappen and Albon. Bottas, meanwhile, purple, purple. Fastest first sector, fastest middle sector. Dare say, fastest final sector as well. 1.25.0 as Valtteri Bottas goes quickest. And his team-mate Lewis Hamilton has had problems on his flying lap down at Turn 7, which is Luffield. Look what happened here. Oh, dear. Car is OK and tyre is OK. OK, copy. Lewis Hamilton is out there with the track to himself. No traffic to worry about whatsoever. And it's still a third of a second shy of his team-mate, but it'll do to get him through to the final part of qualifying. Absolutely. He's still eight tenths clear of Max Verstappen in third place and left a bit in reserve, Lewis Hamilton. Oh, he's got the back end hanging out. You should then just be pulling gears to the end. And he doesn't improve. Stage 9, fastest Lance Stroll. But I'm looking at the timing charts at the moment and I'm not seeing massive improvements from those underneath him. Sebastian Vettel stays P8. Nico Hülkenberg goes into the top 10 at the expense of Alex Albon. Daniel Ricciardo drops Hülkenberg back out of the top 10. He goes seventh fastest. Esteban Ocon goes fifth fastest for Renault. Pierre Gasly can only make 11th fastest. Lance Stroll is hanging on in that top 10. Here comes Carlos Sainz, goes fourth quickest. But what of Alex Albon? Has not put in a personal best through the middle sector and Alex Albon misses out on Q3 in the Red Bull. That is a big disappointment for him and the team as well. Lando Norris is safe, he knows that. As he crosses the line, George Russell can only manage 14th fastest for Williams. But that is a big blow for Alex Albon and for Red Bull. Second and a half off the pace, but he misses out on the top 10 by about five one hundredths of a second. Hülkenberg will be very disappointed. He was on soft tyres as well. Gets knocked out and Stroll just through on the mediums. Lando Norris now continues on his way and crosses the line. It's a 1.26.4 to beat. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas two tenths up on Lewis Hamilton in the first sector on this lap. Charles Leclerc with a 27.5 as well. He's putting that Ferrari quite handy as his incidents which saw Lance Stroll having to stamp on his brakes in the pit lane is going to be investigated after the session, say the stewards. Here's Lewis Hamilton then. That's the time to beat. It's a 1.24.6 by Lewis Hamilton. Smashes the track record by nearly four tenths of a second. Daniel Ricciardo, fourth fastest, in fact, slowest of the four times that we've got so far. We're on board now with Lance Stroll, who's been on a front row before. Where's this racing point? It's second at the moment with a 1.25.9. We look to see where Valtteri Bottas is. Coming through the veil chicane behind Charles Leclerc, who goes third fastest. Valtteri Bottas crosses the line. He's lost time throughout the lap. Hamilton on provisional pole. It's a tenth and a half between the two Mercedes drivers as Esteban Ocon goes seventh fastest ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. And we look now to Sebastian Vettel crossing the line. Fifth fastest for Vettel. Decent time for him. Max Verstappen last to cross the line. Doesn't make the front row, but third fastest. Won't be too bad for Red Bull. Towards the veil chicane he goes. Clean exit. Not getting wheel spin as you put the throttle down and keep the car on that racing line. Absolutely imperative to not losing too much time. Stroll doesn't improve his time. Will stay fourth. Daniel Ricciardo just behind him. Does improve to go fifth fastest overall. Here's his teammate Esteban Ocon. Ocon goes seventh fastest. And it's 3.1 to Ricciardo in the Renault battle this year. Carlos Sainz goes fifth fastest. Decent performance from him. Lando Norris, his teammate, goes one better. So Lando Norris once again on a Saturday getting the better of his more experienced teammate. Here comes Charles Leclerc, who's actually looked very competitive so far this weekend. Goes third fastest in that Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel, his teammate. Can he out-qualify Charles Leclerc? No. And it's only P9 for Sebastian Vettel. Lewis Hamilton's on provisional pole. He'll see the chequered flag. He crosses the line. He goes even faster to extend his advantage over the one man that can stop him getting polled. Bottas crosses the line. He can't stop Hamilton on this Saturday here at Silverstone. Max Verstappen has to settle for third fastest. And Lewis Hamilton, for the seventh time, is on pole for his home British Grand Prix. And I think Lance Stroll will be a bit disappointed down there in sixth place. But good effort there. Leclerc, Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris. Fine place there, fifth on the grid. So what a weekend. What a miserable weekend Seb Vettel's had down there in tenth.