Key events
5/52 Up at the front, Piastri is after Verstappen, who is sliding all over the place. Bortoletto is told to retire. Another virtual safety car. Russell is asking to overtake teammate Antonelli. “I’m much quicker here.”
4/52 We are back racing. Gabriel Bortoletto is off, and he’s back racing. No need for a safety car but this is carnage. Proper racing. Bortoletto will crawl along, his race surely done.
3/52 Colapinto is retired now, in the Alpine. He started at the back of the grid. The word is the track is good for slicks aside from the last two corners. Charles Leclerc 15th, Russell in 13th after those tyres.
2/52 Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton took each other on in the closing sections. Hamilton couldn’t get past Norris. Those on slicks are losing time. Lawson is off, after being hit by Ocon. There’s a virtual safety car in action. Lots of froth coming off the cars in those late sections. Lawson: “who the hell was that?”
Away we go
1/52 They start slowly but Verstappen holds the lead ahead of Piastri. No prangs but Liam Lawson looks to have come off. Yellow flags but no safety car.
No safety car for the start, surely? Cars coming in to change tyres before the race. Hard tyres for Russell. They will start in the pit lane.
The formation lap will be behind the safety car. Rain is expected again at 15 laps in. Lots of talk about tyres. There’s always lots of talk about tyres.
Andy Flintoff gets in touch: “With your entry at 14.46, I thought you were doing a thing, but it certainly would have been funny if the comedian Tony Hawks and the historian Tom Holland had been booked instead of the skateboarder and the actor.”
My colleague Beau Dure emails in: “Wasn’t it strange that they depicted Pitt’s time in the McLaren as if it was his first time doing it, but then he said he logged about 6,000 miles in training and filming? I saw the film this week — solid B+, though I wish it had treated its female characters a bit better. Brad Pitt gets some female companionship, but Damson Idris gets the “hey, can you introduce me to THAT guy” treatment? Really?”
Some news via Reuters.
The top three Formula One drivers in Sunday’s British Grand Prix will have to handle their trophies with care during the podium celebrations or risk ending up with a pile of LEGO toy bricks. “We wanted to create something very special because it’s the 75th anniversary,” LEGO’s chief product and marketing officer Julia Goldin told Reuters.
The blocks are stuck together with glue, and took seven builders 210 hours to create in Denmark. Goldin said breakages would not be the end of the world.
McLaren’s Lando Norris did just that in Hungary with a special porcelain trophy in 2023.“If he smashes the trophy it will fall apart into thousands of beautiful bricks,” said Goldin. “And then we can rebuild it. Because that’s the whole point of LEGO bricks. “You can create amazing things and then you can rebuild them. I just want the drivers to be happy and whatever they do is fine.”
Oh, and Vin Diesel was there, too, as the former Quentin Cook signs off with a version of the Stones’ Satisfaction.
The pit walk
Tony Hawk – skateboarder not member of Morris Minor and The Majors – is here. He has his board with him. Tom Holland – actor not popular historian – is also there. “I am going to try and catch Lewis. I am always wary not to be a distraction,” he tells Martin Brundle. Damson Idris – of the Brad film – will be waving the chequered flag. “I’m so glad everyone has supported the movie.” It stops raining. Nigel Mansell – from the Isle of Mad – is there with Jackie Stewart. “Lewis has an outside chance,” says Nige. Sebastian Coe is cheering for “anyone who can master the circumstances. Clarkson’s here, Clarksoning along. “There’s 20 drivers, and 17 I like them.” Someone called Kaleb – a Clarkson acolyte? – is there with Jezza. Sam Ryder – the world’s most excitable man – gives Brundle a hug. Hannah Waddingham dishes out the hugs and the luvviedom to Brunds, too. She wants to see Hamilton and Verstappen “going at it in the wet”. The drivers rush to the track. Fernando Alonso gives the thumbs up. Ian Wright is “buzzing, bro”, and now Idris Elba is as hyped as Wrighty and Ryder – he’s “Team Lewis”. And here’s the National Anthem with clouds deep above the track…Becky Hill gives it the discursive, big flourish at the end on “k-i-n-g”. Let’s get racing!
Fat Boy Slim is on the wheels of steel. Can he be overheard over the engines? Right here, right now, it’s still raining. “I love that it’s raining,” says Lewis Hamilton. “Good old English weather. I get nervous as this is the week you get nervous the most. The fans have been ride or die with me. Thanks to them I really get to enjoy it.”
It’s raining in Northamptonshire. Good news for Max? Wet weather doesn’t usually stop him. A prep race was abandoned earlier in the day but the track dries quickly.
MetOffice: “expected to be a heavy rain shower passing over the track from the north-west to the south-east, with further rain in the area of Silverstone throughout the afternoon.”
It rather goes without saying that the coverage today features the Brad Pitt F1 film you will have seen advertised just about everywhere. He’s showing Martin Brundle how he drives an F1 car, a McLaren. “What a rush!,” says our Brad, though he’s nowhere near as quick as Brunds.
And a qualifying report.
In beating the charging McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Britain’s Lando Norris into second and third, Verstappen proved once more to be the difference, his touch and precision exquisite through the sweeping, high-speed blast of Silverstone, which demands inch-perfect commitment.
A scene-setter for this weekend from Giles Richards.
Drivers’ championship standings
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1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 216 points
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2. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 201 points
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3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 155 points
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4. George Russell (Mercedes) – 146 points
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5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 119 points
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6. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – 91 points
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7. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – 63 points
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8. Alex Albon (Williams) – 42 points
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9. Esteban Ocon (Haas) – 23 points
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10. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) – 22 points
Grid positions
Preamble
Max Verstappen on pole and looking like he means business. This is truly shaping into a world championship to remember. The two McLarens are at close hand and Silverstone, where the championship has visited every season in its history, looks set for a classic. It won’t just be getting in and out of the car park that will be a closely fought battle. Two more plucky Brits in George Russell and Lewis Hamilton complete the top five. It’s been a week of rumours of Verstappen jumping ship, and much else besides but the talking will be done on the grand old track.
We go at 3pm. Join me.