It was inevitable that, with Oasis playing their first concert in many years the previous night, a best of British feeling would be played to the full at Silverstone. There were lots of Brits to be supported but Bearman might not be getting much. He would start the race with a ten place grid penalty for crashing in the pit lane entry as he accelerated past Red Flags.
The first Qualifying session went well for eight minutes, with drivers dutifully setting times. Then Colapinto touched the paint with a tyre and went for a gentle trip through the gravel and into the wall. Yellow flags came out and it seemed that the session would need to be stopped (it was eventually) but he was able to keep going, dropping gravel as he went along the straight before pulling over. His car was dusty and the wheels were so chiselled that he bumped along on square tyres.
When they got going again, the track had changed: the wind direction and the spots of rain affected it. Some drivers chose not to go out for an early push with five minutes to go but most did. To his annoyance, Hamilton wasn't fuelled to put in a few laps in a row, which put him under pressure and he finished 14th. Verstappen was fastest followed by Piastri then Bearman (for the Brits). Out went Lawson (who did so well last race), Bortoleto (who did so well last race), Stroll (never done well at any race since he left Williams), Hulkenberg (who did so well last race) and Colapinto.
It was a fairly standard second session. The big surprise was that Hamilton was first with LeClerc second. Both Williams went out in 11th (Sainz) and 14th (Albon, having made a poor choice to change his set-up). Tsunoda was in 12th, Hadjar 13th and Ocon in 15th.
Again, the final session was nothing spectacular but did go to down to a final quick lap shoot out. Having found it difficult to get a good set up and handle his car throughout the first two sessions, Verstappen took pole, setting the sectors purple. He was ahead of Piastri and Norris, the McLarens behind him. Max was very pleased with that result: "simply lovely". Piastri had slipped and swerved about and Norris had taken too much kerb, neither driver was in contention in the end. Behind them was Russell, Hamilton, LeClerc, Antonelli, Bearman, Alonso and Gasly.
All eyes would now be on the weather forecast for the race. As ever, there was a sense that Verstappen would hold the lead from the start to the end and all those Brits lining up would not get a look in.
