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03:11 PM
Q1 – Russell fastest!
Nice. It doesn’t last for long, though. Verstappen beats it by 1.3s or so. The rain has eased up now, almost totally. Will it be dry enough for dry tyres yet? Not yet, but perhaps at the end of the session.
03:09 PM
Q1 – Top 10 as it stands
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LEC
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PER
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VER
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NOR
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RUS
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HAM
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SAI
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ALB
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BOT
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ZHO
03:09 PM
Q1 – Lap times tumbling at the moment
Nine minutes remain. Sainz up into third. Tsunoda, Latifi, Alonso, Ocon and Vettel currently in the drop zone. The Alpines yet to set a lap time, though.
03:08 PM
Q1 – Verstappen back to the top
He beats Leclerc as Perez slots in into third ahead of Hamilton and Russell.
Then Leclerc beats Verstappen again with a 1:42.129.
03:06 PM
Q1 – Hamilton into second
0.359s off Leclerc, but Russell is about a second slower than that…
Verstappen then goes quickest by 1.778s. He really is a master in the wet. And a good car is generally a good car in the wet.
Albon into second! Mick Schumacher into third! I think there is a dry-ish line emerging now? The track is getting better, in any case.
03:05 PM
Q1 – Leclerc fastest so far
Only six drivers to have set a time, yellow flags out for some reason… nothing for too long so must have been a spinner somewhere.
Hamilton and Russell both on their first timed laps.
03:03 PM
Q1 – Ricciardo told that the rain should stop in the next eight minutes or so
Nobody wants to see that!
Charles Leclerc has started his hot lap. Both Alpines still in the garage for some reason.
03:02 PM
Q1 – 16 mins remain
Everyone who has gone out, and that is mostly everyone, is on the intermediates. But will the rain get better or worse throughout Q1 and indeed the whole hour?
03:00 PM
GREEN LIGHT: Q1 BEGINS
This is going to be mega. I think. How many red flags do you reckon?
02:59 PM
There is a queue at the end of the pit lanes
Still a couple of minutes to go…
02:56 PM
Here it is…
Not sure my photo from inside the media centre does it justice, but it’s quite steady.
02:52 PM
Confirmed: It is raining in the last few corners
And it looks like it is only going to get heavier. I don’t think it’s going to last especially long, the wind is strong today, but it is going to make it difficult out there. Would be surprised if anyone starts the session (which starts in seven or so minutes) on dry tyres…
02:48 PM
I don’t especially want to keep talking about the weather
But it is really quite grey and dark over the circuit. I think the rain is approaching. Good. It looks like it could be more than a few spits and spots, too.
02:42 PM
We’re about 20 minutes out
Chances of rain? Looking increasingly likely… could well be a mixed session. That would be fun. Hamilton pole?
02:32 PM
These were the fastest sectors in final practice
They may be useless for taking any notice of if that rain comes. I can’t see that we will get a fully wet session, really.
Still, I think signs that Mercedes might be getting there. However slowly.
02:29 PM
The view towards where the weather is (roughly) coming from from the paddock
02:22 PM
Ferrari also struggling with bouncing
Red Bull not so much. Almost looked glued to the ground.
02:17 PM
Current constructor standings
02:15 PM
A more detailed update on that weather coming in
02:14 PM
Looks like the chances of rain during qualifying are increasing
According to BBC Weather it’s about a 60 per cent chance in the hour of qualifying. The conditions are quite tricky as it is, actually. It’s blustery and the track is not all that warm.
02:09 PM
Driver standings: Top 10
Numerical proof of Verstappen’s advantage…
02:07 PM
Verstappen in fine form this weekend
I don’t need to say this again, but I will: we really need a Leclerc win or at least a big points swing in his favour. Verstappen is running away with it and, frankly, that is no better than Hamilton (or any other driver) running away with it.
Well, unless you’re Verstappen, work for Red Bull are a fan of either…
01:59 PM
Weather update: It was spitting a few minutes ago…
But it now appears to have stopped. In any case, the W Series drivers are out there in slick tyres and (surprise) Jamie Chadwick is about to win. It is getting slightly grey in the distance…
01:48 PM
Final times after third practice
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Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1min 27.901secs
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Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:28.311
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Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:28.348
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George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:28.426
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Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:28.488
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Carlos Sainz Jr (Spa) Ferrari 1:28.689
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Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:29.102
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Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:29.185
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Mick Schumacher (Ger) Haas F1 1:29.510
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Fernando Alonso (Spa) Alpine 1:29.520
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Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:29.552
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Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Aston Martin 1:29.593
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Guanyu Zhou (Chn) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:29.752
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Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 1:29.780
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Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:29.885
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Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:29.892
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Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:30.039
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Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) McLaren 1:30.293
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Nicholas Latifi (Can) Williams 1:30.489
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Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:30.523
01:00 PM
Good afternoon F1 fans
And welcome to our coverage for qualifying for the 2022 British Grand Prix from Silverstone. The British Grand Prix always feels like a special event and Silverstone is usually a track that produces decent action. Let us hope for more of the same this weekend. Though what the championship really needs is for Max Verstappen to have a bad weekend. He leads team-mate Sergio Perez by 46 points but perhaps a more realistic title challenger is Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who is 49 points adrift. It doesn’t seem that long ago that Leclerc was the one with the big lead. Well, after a month or two of Ferrari failure he comes into this weekend with a mammoth task on his hands.
Does final practice give us any hope that this may be the case? It perhaps looked that way for a while during the hour of practice but it did not end that way. Mercedes looked to have made a decent step back towards the front, certainly closer to Ferrari, but the pace of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen looked astonishing in the final part of the session, pulling out a lap of 1:27.901 which was four-tenths quicker than his team-mate Sergio Perez and nearly half a second quicker than the lead Ferrari of Leclerc and the a bit faster still than both Mercedes cars.
How representative is that? We do not yet know and we should find out in qualifying. Or, at least, we might if it stays dry for the entirety of the session. Which is by no means guaranteed, given there are a few showers around. Were some teams running with a more optimised set-up for the wet? Hard to say, again. Whatever, Red Bull appear to have unleashed a significant amount of performance and lap time after yesterday.
And what of Mercedes? There were encouraging signs, for sure, and they look to be closer to the pace of the second quickest team, if not closer to the actual front. George Russell reported that there was “no bouncing” on one of his early runs, but later on in the session Hamilton complained of that issue that has dogged him for the whole season. In any case, fourth and fifth for Russell and Hamilton is not too bad, given they split the Ferraris. Lando Norris was the best of the rest in seventh, which should give some hope for a strong showing from the home drivers.
But, if it’s a wet-dry session than who knows?
