Max Verstappen denies Brits at Silverstone as Lewis Hamilton misses out on pole

All the hype was around Lewis Hamilton after strong performances in qualifying, but both he and Lando Norris were denied pole position for the British Grand Prix. And neither will start Sunday's race on the front row with Oscar Piastri and pole-sitter Max Verstappen denying them.

Piastri was leading at the start of the final runs but could not improve his time, while Norris could manage to go only behind his McLaren team-mate. And it looked for all the world as if both of them would be usurped by Hamilton who was on a strong final effort.

But he lost time in the final sector and will have to settle for fifth on the grid, with Ferrari's performance fluctuating throughout qualifying. They narrowly escaped a Q1 exit, then went quickest in the second part only to meander to fifth and Charles Leclerc in sixth at the end.

But where Hamilton fell short, Verstappen did not. He banished memories of his wretched Austrian Grand Prix a week ago to blow everyone away, despite having complained about his car throughout the session.

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Franco Colapinto, still pointless since his mid-season elevation to a race seat at Alpine, did himself no favours with a spin at the final corner which saw Q1 red flagged. He had managed to return to the track after light contact with the barriers but had to pull over at the outside of Farm curve, informing his team he had lost his gearbox.

That left him tock bottom of the standings with Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson. Hamilton looked to be on the cusp of an early exit after being left unable to go out on a final run because his Ferrari was not fuelled, but he narrowly survived in 14th place.

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And Q2 was much more comfortable for the Ferraris who, on their final runs went out first and each put in laps good enough to move to the top of the times, first Leclerc and then Hamilton. But there was less good news for Williams who saw both their cars drop out at the middle stage.

Yuki Tsunoda, Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon were the others who failed to make the top 10. What a shame it was that Oliver Bearman, who had been red hot throughout qualifying, was carrying a 10-place grid penalty for crashing under red flags at the end of final practice earlier in the day.

He was eighth quickest in the final session which would have been a superb result, but that grid drop means he will be 18th when the lights go out on Sunday. That means a rise of one place each for Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly, who were the only ones in Q3 slower than the Haas.

But while the Brits had the backing of the huge Silverstone crowd, there was no stopping Verstappen. Red Bull had looked wretched in qualifying but the team felt confident they would have everything together by qualifying. Oh, how right they were.