British GP: George and Lewis Lock Out the Front Row
Front Row Lockout for the Team: George takes his first pole position at the British GP, Lewis in P2. Three cars with Mercedes-Benz Power in the top-three.
The second day of the British Grand Prix began with overnight thunderstorms, rain, wind and a wet track in FP3. The final practice session took place in low temperatures (air: 10°C, track: 16°C) and was contested with Intermediate tyres throughout.
The Team seemed to have found a decent balance for these difficult conditions and George and Lewis finished the session in P1 and P2, but drier conditions were expected for qualifying, so the pace did not allow any direct conclusions to be drawn for qualifying.
Nevertheless, it was an encouraging start to the second day of our home race, which was to get even better shortly afterwards.
Just half an hour before Formula 1 went into qualifying at the Home of British Motor Racing, our Junior Driver Kimi Antonelli scored his first win in a Formula 2 Sprint Race in difficult wet conditions. Kimi put in a masterful performance to finish more than 8 seconds ahead of the runner-up and also set the fastest lap of the race.
Exciting Q1 in Changing Weather Conditions
After a heavy rain shower during the F2 race, the strong wind helped to dry the track before F1 qualifying, so that the drivers started Q1 on Intermediates, but were able to switch to slicks during the session.
Both drivers completed two push laps on the Intermediates before changing to the Soft tyres for their final run with multiple laps to get the tyres into the working window. Unfortunately, the first attempt on the Soft tyres was abruptly interrupted on the out lap when the session was red-flagged because Sergio Perez was stuck in the gravel at Copse.
Lewis and George resumed Q1 on slicks and completed several push laps in a row, while the rain first became heavier again and then eased off again. In the end, both made it safely into Q2 in P1 and P2.
Extremely Close Qualifying Ends with Front Row Lock Out
Our duo started the second qualifying segment on the used Soft tyres from Q1, which were already well up to temperature. With every lap completed by the remaining 15 drivers, the lap times continued to tumble on the drying track.
Both drivers put on a new set of Soft tyres for their second run in which they did a fast lap followed by a slow one and another push lap. This meant that George and Lewis made it safely into Q3 in P2 and P5. In total, drivers from seven different teams made it into Q3, seven of the ten cars were Mercedes-powered.
George and Lewis completed the first run on new Soft tyres in Q3 in P1 and P3. They were separated by less than two tenths of a second.
In an incredibly exciting, close battle on the final run, George secured pole position by 0.171 seconds ahead of Lewis in P2. Lando Norris in third ensured there were three Brits and three Mercedes-powered cars in the top three, with the top six within half a second of each other.
After a breathtaking qualifying, the race weekend is now heading towards its climax: the British Grand Prix. The race will start on Sunday at 15:00 local time (16:00 CEST).
Source :Mercedes
