SILVERSTONE, England — Formula 1’s hot topic is where four-time reigning champion Max Verstappen might go next season.
There’s no doubt about where he belongs on the starting grid for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
As his title rivals from McLaren made small but costly errors, the 27-year-old Dutchman who drives for Red Bull had the pace when it mattered most during Saturday’s qualifying session, allowing him to secure the pole position at Silverstone Circuit.
He sacrificed tire grip for speed and went fastest by 0.103 of a second to beat Oscar Piastri’s time. Lando Norris, Piastri’s McClaren teammate, was third at .015 further back as the British driver’s fans in the new “Landostand” saw a setback to his chances of a first home win.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, a record nine-time winner of his home race, was also in the fight for the pole but had to settle for fifth after a relatively slow end to the seven-time F1 champion’s lap. With George Russell fourth for Mercedes, that made three British drivers in the top five, but none on the front row.
Piastri lost time with a slight slide in the last corner on his final run, while Norris clipped a curb on an otherwise strong lap.
Verstappen had seemed pessimistic about having the pace to challenge the McLarens at Silverstone — Ferrari had been closer than Red Bull in practice — and he described his car as “so difficult” over the radio partway through the session. Even so, he found the pace in time.
Amid speculation over Verstappen’s future, including the possibility of a departure to Mercedes with Russell’s contract up after this season, there was another sign of how much Red Bull relies on the reigning champ as his teammate Yuki Tsunoda missed the top 10 for the sixth straight qualifying session. Tsunoda placed 12th and on Sunday will seek to end a run of four races without scoring a point on the international open-wheel circuit.
Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli qualified seventh but has a three-place penalty for crashing into Verstappen on the opening lap of the Austrian GP last week, dealing a heavy blow to Verstappen’s bid for a fifth title in a row.
Haas rookie Oliver Bearman had impressive pace to qualify eighth. It meant little because he already had a 10-place penalty after he crashed in the pits after speeding under a red flag in practice.
Franco Colapinto is under pressure with no points this season at Alpine and did himself no favors Saturday by qualifying last with a spin and a slide into the barriers that brought out the red flag.
After Verstappen was frustrated with his car in practice, Red Bull tweaked the setup for higher straight-line speed, at the cost of some grip, especially in Silverstone’s many high-speed corners.
“It seemed to hold on,” was Verstappen’s verdict.
In Sunday’s race, that could make it trickier for the McLarens to get close enough to try and overtake. Even with the DRS overtaking aid, Norris said the McLarens might be able to match Verstappen’s higher top speed only on the straights, not reel him in.
Piastri said the conditions reminded him of qualifying at the Japanese GP in April, when Verstappen won the pole. He kept both McLarens behind him in the race for his first win of 2025.
Piastri is first in the standings and has a 15-point lead over Norris, while Verstappen is third, 61 points off the lead.
There’s also a chance of rain during the race, which could upend everyone’s strategy.