The 2019 British Formula 1 Grand Prix was quite exciting. The pole winner Valtteri Bottas stole pole away from his team mate Hamilton who could have won his 7th pole on Silverstone but came only 0.006 sec. short.
The 21 year old's super talents Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen also were a lot closer than normal. Verstappen was only 0.183 sec. slower than Bottas on P4 in the Red Bull, while Leclerc only was a minor 0.079 sec. to slow for pole on P3.
Verstappen had some turbo lag problems that he says has cost him over 0.2 sec on his lap. Leclerc said after his last quali lap he gave it all, so did Verstappen miss out again in the first pole of his F1 career?
We have summed up the drivers comments they told the press after qualifying for the 2019 British Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Valtteri Bottas (pole position - 4th time in 2019)
Valtteri Bottas
"When I got the radio call that I qualified on pole, I was just really happy – I’ve been missing this feeling. It’s very difficult to beat Lewis here, he’s always very strong in Silverstone. My lap wasn’t perfect, there was still some margin left to improve, but no one got a perfect lap together, so it was enough in the end. I now have to make good use of the pole; Lewis’ race pace has been really strong this year, so I’m sure it’ll be a good fight tomorrow.
Charles will also be a threat, especially in the beginning of the race because he’s starting on the softer tyres. We are starting on the Mediums, which will make the start tricky, but should be the better choice in the long run. I’m looking forward to the race, it should be good fun."
Lewis Hamilton
"Congratulations to Valtteri, he ultimately did the better job today. It wasn’t the best of qualifying sessions for me, I had a difficult run in Q2 and the first run in Q3 was also not very good. The last one was ok, but certainly not perfect – it’s just one of those days, sometimes you get into a rhythm and then other days you don’t. But there’s more to come; it’s a long race tomorrow, so I will try and see how I can progress forward from the position I’m in.
This is a race you’ve got to try and win, but it is not an easy one to win – every year you come, it’s always a massive challenge. The long runs yesterday looked good, so I hope to utilise the tyre advantage from the Mediums tomorrow. Coming to this weekend the energy is just incredible, it’s uplifting for me and the entire team. I’m going to try and bring myself together in a positive way tonight and come back stronger tomorrow."
Scuderia Ferrari
Charles Leclerc
“I am satisfied with our result because I think that we did the best we could and extracted the maximum from our car on this particular circuit. We struggled at the beginning of this weekend, especially with the front tyres, which already felt much better today.
In terms of the strategy, we are happy with our choice to start the race on the soft compound. The cars ahead will be on mediums, which will hopefully mix things up a bit. The weather will also play an important role in the race and, together with the challenges the track itself poses, it should be an exciting one.”
Sebastian Vettel
“It’s been a bit of an up and down weekend for me and this afternoon, I struggled to get the most out of the car, as I couldn’t get a feel for it and I wasn’t happy with how it went. Lately, we have been clearly struggling on one lap pace.
However, looking at our long run pace from free practice, I expect to be more competitive in the race tomorrow.
It looks like Mercedes start favourite, but I think we can take the fight to the Red Bulls and then see what we can do from there.”
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen
“I am quite happy with the second row of the grid. Before qualifying I wasn’t comfortable and still searching for a good balance. Around here with all the fast corners you have to feel fully confident in the car to get a good lap time. We made improvements for qualifying, the car was great and we really found a good set-up. Unfortunately, I had a problem with lag and out of the low speed corners I was losing time.
When you look at how close we are to pole position then the result is bittersweet as I think we could have fought for pole if everything had been perfect. We seem to have found a good wing level for the straights, we usually have even better performance in the race and with the good balance we had in qualifying I’m quite confident. The strategy will be very important because of the high energy levels put through the tyres on this track but I will be flat out and hopefully we can put up a good fight.”
Pierre Gasly
"I think we’ve made a big step forward this weekend and it was important to get a good qualifying position. Free Practice was really good, we’ve been working well all weekend and I was in a happy place with the car coming into qualifying.
My lap in Q3 wasn’t perfect but we can still be pleased that we’re P5 and starting on the medium tyre. The whole weekend has been really positive and things are a lot better, so now we need to focus on tomorrow. Our race pace on Friday was good and I think we have a strong car so now I’m just excited to race."
Renault F1 Team
Daniel Ricciardo
“Today is a really good recovery, especially after the last round. It shows we’ve done a lot of work, discovered a bit more from the car and then executed a good qualifying. I’m really happy with today. Having both cars in Q3 was our objective, we’ve achieved that, and seventh is probably the best we can reach at the moment.
Tomorrow we need to take some points off our rivals and we’re in prime position to do that. We’ll try and stay up there and put some smiles back on the team. Our car looked good on long runs so we’ll be targeting a double-points finish tomorrow.”
Nico Hulkenberg
“It’s positive to be back in Q3, but we can’t be entirely happy as tenth isn’t an ideal starting spot. I couldn’t find the balance between front and rear all weekend and that continued in qualifying.
You need confidence in the car here and that wasn’t all there today. I can’t complain too much, it’s an improvement since the last round. Tomorrow we need to score well, but we know it will be a fight. We’ll do our best to come away with as many points as we can.”
McLaren F1 Team
Carlos Sainz (P13 - 1st time in 2019)
Carlos Sainz Jr.
“A difficult day. I’m not 100 per cent comfortable with the car, especially with the rear end during qualifying. Q1 didn’t look that bad though, I recovered a bit of the feeling with the car and I thought a good qualifying was possible. Then, as the session went on, we just got slower and slower, struggling on every run with the rear grip.
“Difficult to explain at the moment what happened there to be honest. We will analyse quali tonight – and probably next week – and then we’ll start thinking straight away about tomorrow, when we’ll fight to make our way into the points.”
Lando Norris
“Not a bad qualifying – I think we can be reasonably happy. We struggled a bit. I was four-hundredths off P7, and a little annoyed because I had a slide in the last corner and probably lost four-hundredths there. Apart from that, I don’t think eighth is a bad starting position.
“I don’t think we had it easy; we struggled a lot with the wind change. It was quieter in Q1, I did my best lap then but as the direction reversed a little bit, I seemed to struggle a little more than some of the others. It’s something to look into but apart from that, not a bad Saturday.”
Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
Alexander Albon
“I’m happy with that! We’ve always been in the top 10 this weekend but we knew the others would turn it up in Qualifying, our balance just got better and better through the weekend and it came together.
After a tough couple of races, it’s really good to be back into Q3. I’m really happy with the car and I love this track, the car has been feeling good all weekend and when the track started to get more grip, I felt more comfortable and was able to get more performance from the car. Our race pace looked promising in FP2 yesterday and we were looking quite good with tyres, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow, I’m looking forward to it!”
Daniil Kvyat (P17 - 1st time in 2019)
Daniil Kvyat
“I think our car wasn’t in the right window today and I wasn’t really happy with the balance. This weekend has been a bit out of rhythm for me, so we need to analyse what happened to understand what we can do for tomorrow.
We had flashes of improvement like in FP3, but when it came to Qualifying, the car wasn’t doing exactly what I wanted it to do. When the midfield is as tight as it is now, a tenth or two drops you out in Q1.”
Alfa Romeo Racing
Antonio Giovinazzi
“It was a bit frustrating to miss out on Q3 for just a tenth of a second. I was pretty happy with my final lap in Q2 until the final corner, where I made a small mistake: when the gaps are so small, this is the price you pay. We wanted more but we still have a decent opportunity to have a good race.
We have to take the positives, we get to choose our starting tyres and I think it can be an advantage. Our pace on softs in practice wasn’t great so I think to start on one of the other compounds is a better option. We are just outside the top ten – if we have a good start and a good strategy we can be right in the fight for points.”
Kimi Raikkonen
“To be honest that was not what we were hoping for, but we didn’t have an awful lot more speed unfortunately.
Overall it seems to be a difficult weekend for us, it’s not easy to get everything together. Everyone asks if the free tyre choice is an advantage – how do I know? We’ll see tomorrow.”
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
Romain Grosjean
“I’m frustrated with qualifying. We had Q3 in our hands, the car felt really good. In Q2 something was wrong with both sets of tires. The first lap I was 1.2 second off my fastest time, there was literally no grip. So, what’s happened behind the scenes – I don’t know. It just didn’t work well, I couldn’t repeat the pace of Q1. I’m hoping we find out, as we had Q3 in the car.
When we can be P9 with the car from Melbourne in Q1, it’s pretty impressive with that package. There’s a lot of potential, even though with the data there’s a lot less downforce. It’s working well in terms of feeling, it’s much better. We just need to understand the difference between the two packages and hopefully we can pile on some downforce.”
Kevin Magnussen
“I’m frustrated to be lacking pace. It’s not like we looked super strong, but we were at least looking close to the midfield. It wouldn’t have taken much, or a big gain to have gotten in front of the midfield. Instead, we lost a lot of pace, and I can’t really explain why.
I suddenly had no front grip in qualifying without having really changed anything. We had made some changes to help the front, but it went the other way. It’s got to be something tire related again, I guess, but it’s difficult to explain. We’re spending this weekend trying to learn, hopefully get some points along the way, but it’s frustrating nonetheless.”
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team
Sergio Pérez (P15 - 3rd time in 2019)
Sergio Pérez
“Not an easy qualifying session and not the result we wanted. The car balance felt okay, but we were missing the ability to put our best sectors together. We felt more competitive yesterday, so we need to understand why we didn’t perform as well today.
It is frustrating because I want to be fighting in Q3 and we need to be there to score points. We won’t give up though, because you never know what can happen in the race. We know our starts are good so getting away well tomorrow will be really important for our final result.”
Lance Stroll (P18 - 2nd time in 2019)
Lance Stroll
“The margins were very small today. A tenth would have made the difference and helped me progress to Q2, but we just missed the cut. When you go through the data after the session, you can see where you could have found more time, but the whole grid is so close at the moment.
It’s a bit frustrating, but I prefer to take a glass-half-full approach because I think we can be stronger in the race. It won’t be easy starting so far back, but the long runs yesterday looked competitive and we usually perform better on Sundays.”
ROKiT Williams Racing
George Russell
“We did a solid job with the set-up today and got the most out of the car. It was a good lap, it felt nice to drive and I had a smile on my face at the end.
The support from the home fans has been incredible, and to see them appreciate the job that I am doing is a really special feeling.”
Robert Kubica
"The weather conditions here are a big factor, I felt more comfortable during my first run as the wind picked up throughout the session. It was clear to see the difference in conditions as we gained speed in some areas, but lost in others.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad qualifying session, however, the outcome is unfortunately the same."
✅ Check out 2019 British F1 GP Qualifying Report & Classification
✅ Check out 2019 British F1 GP Start Grid
✅ Check out 2019 F1 Championship Standings
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The 2019 British Formula 1 Grand Prix was quite exciting. The pole winner Valtteri Bottas stole pole away from his team mate Hamilton who could have won his 7th pole on Silverstone but came only 0.006 sec. short.
The 21 year old's super talents Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen also were a lot closer than normal. Verstappen was only 0.183 sec. slower than Bottas on P4 in the Red Bull, while Leclerc only was a minor 0.079 sec. to slow for pole on P3.
Verstappen had some turbo lag problems that he says has cost him over 0.2 sec on his lap. Leclerc said after his last quali lap he gave it all, so did Verstappen miss out again in the first pole of his F1 career?
We have summed up the drivers comments they told the press after qualifying for the 2019 British Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Valtteri Bottas (pole position - 4th time in 2019)
Valtteri Bottas
"When I got the radio call that I qualified on pole, I was just really happy – I’ve been missing this feeling. It’s very difficult to beat Lewis here, he’s always very strong in Silverstone. My lap wasn’t perfect, there was still some margin left to improve, but no one got a perfect lap together, so it was enough in the end. I now have to make good use of the pole; Lewis’ race pace has been really strong this year, so I’m sure it’ll be a good fight tomorrow.
Charles will also be a threat, especially in the beginning of the race because he’s starting on the softer tyres. We are starting on the Mediums, which will make the start tricky, but should be the better choice in the long run. I’m looking forward to the race, it should be good fun."
Lewis Hamilton (P2 - 5th time in 2019)
Lewis Hamilton
"Congratulations to Valtteri, he ultimately did the better job today. It wasn’t the best of qualifying sessions for me, I had a difficult run in Q2 and the first run in Q3 was also not very good. The last one was ok, but certainly not perfect – it’s just one of those days, sometimes you get into a rhythm and then other days you don’t. But there’s more to come; it’s a long race tomorrow, so I will try and see how I can progress forward from the position I’m in.
This is a race you’ve got to try and win, but it is not an easy one to win – every year you come, it’s always a massive challenge. The long runs yesterday looked good, so I hope to utilise the tyre advantage from the Mediums tomorrow. Coming to this weekend the energy is just incredible, it’s uplifting for me and the entire team. I’m going to try and bring myself together in a positive way tonight and come back stronger tomorrow."
Scuderia Ferrari
Charles Leclerc (P3 - 3rd time in 2019)
Charles Leclerc
“I am satisfied with our result because I think that we did the best we could and extracted the maximum from our car on this particular circuit. We struggled at the beginning of this weekend, especially with the front tyres, which already felt much better today.
In terms of the strategy, we are happy with our choice to start the race on the soft compound. The cars ahead will be on mediums, which will hopefully mix things up a bit. The weather will also play an important role in the race and, together with the challenges the track itself poses, it should be an exciting one.”
Sebastian Vettel (P6 - 1st time in 2019)
Sebastian Vettel
“It’s been a bit of an up and down weekend for me and this afternoon, I struggled to get the most out of the car, as I couldn’t get a feel for it and I wasn’t happy with how it went. Lately, we have been clearly struggling on one lap pace.
However, looking at our long run pace from free practice, I expect to be more competitive in the race tomorrow.
It looks like Mercedes start favourite, but I think we can take the fight to the Red Bulls and then see what we can do from there.”
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen (P4 - 5th time in 2019)
Max Verstappen
“I am quite happy with the second row of the grid. Before qualifying I wasn’t comfortable and still searching for a good balance. Around here with all the fast corners you have to feel fully confident in the car to get a good lap time. We made improvements for qualifying, the car was great and we really found a good set-up. Unfortunately, I had a problem with lag and out of the low speed corners I was losing time.
When you look at how close we are to pole position then the result is bittersweet as I think we could have fought for pole if everything had been perfect. We seem to have found a good wing level for the straights, we usually have even better performance in the race and with the good balance we had in qualifying I’m quite confident. The strategy will be very important because of the high energy levels put through the tyres on this track but I will be flat out and hopefully we can put up a good fight.”
Pierre Gasly (P5 - 3rd time in 2019)
Pierre Gasly
"I think we’ve made a big step forward this weekend and it was important to get a good qualifying position. Free Practice was really good, we’ve been working well all weekend and I was in a happy place with the car coming into qualifying.
My lap in Q3 wasn’t perfect but we can still be pleased that we’re P5 and starting on the medium tyre. The whole weekend has been really positive and things are a lot better, so now we need to focus on tomorrow. Our race pace on Friday was good and I think we have a strong car so now I’m just excited to race."
Renault F1 Team
Daniel Ricciardo (P7 - 3rd time in 2019 )
Daniel Ricciardo
“Today is a really good recovery, especially after the last round. It shows we’ve done a lot of work, discovered a bit more from the car and then executed a good qualifying. I’m really happy with today. Having both cars in Q3 was our objective, we’ve achieved that, and seventh is probably the best we can reach at the moment.
Tomorrow we need to take some points off our rivals and we’re in prime position to do that. We’ll try and stay up there and put some smiles back on the team. Our car looked good on long runs so we’ll be targeting a double-points finish tomorrow.”
Nico Hulkenberg (P10 - 1st time in 2019)
Nico Hulkenberg
“It’s positive to be back in Q3, but we can’t be entirely happy as tenth isn’t an ideal starting spot. I couldn’t find the balance between front and rear all weekend and that continued in qualifying.
You need confidence in the car here and that wasn’t all there today. I can’t complain too much, it’s an improvement since the last round. Tomorrow we need to score well, but we know it will be a fight. We’ll do our best to come away with as many points as we can.”
Carlos Sainz (P13 - 1st time in 2019)
Carlos Sainz Jr.
“A difficult day. I’m not 100 per cent comfortable with the car, especially with the rear end during qualifying. Q1 didn’t look that bad though, I recovered a bit of the feeling with the car and I thought a good qualifying was possible. Then, as the session went on, we just got slower and slower, struggling on every run with the rear grip.
“Difficult to explain at the moment what happened there to be honest. We will analyse quali tonight – and probably next week – and then we’ll start thinking straight away about tomorrow, when we’ll fight to make our way into the points.”
Lando Norris (P8 - 3rd time in 2019)
Lando Norris
“Not a bad qualifying – I think we can be reasonably happy. We struggled a bit. I was four-hundredths off P7, and a little annoyed because I had a slide in the last corner and probably lost four-hundredths there. Apart from that, I don’t think eighth is a bad starting position.
“I don’t think we had it easy; we struggled a lot with the wind change. It was quieter in Q1, I did my best lap then but as the direction reversed a little bit, I seemed to struggle a little more than some of the others. It’s something to look into but apart from that, not a bad Saturday.”
Alexander Albon (P9 - 2nd time in 2019)
Alexander Albon
“I’m happy with that! We’ve always been in the top 10 this weekend but we knew the others would turn it up in Qualifying, our balance just got better and better through the weekend and it came together.
After a tough couple of races, it’s really good to be back into Q3. I’m really happy with the car and I love this track, the car has been feeling good all weekend and when the track started to get more grip, I felt more comfortable and was able to get more performance from the car. Our race pace looked promising in FP2 yesterday and we were looking quite good with tyres, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow, I’m looking forward to it!”
Daniil Kvyat (P17 - 1st time in 2019)
Daniil Kvyat
“I think our car wasn’t in the right window today and I wasn’t really happy with the balance. This weekend has been a bit out of rhythm for me, so we need to analyse what happened to understand what we can do for tomorrow.
We had flashes of improvement like in FP3, but when it came to Qualifying, the car wasn’t doing exactly what I wanted it to do. When the midfield is as tight as it is now, a tenth or two drops you out in Q1.”
Antonio Giovinazzi (P11 - 1st time in 2019)
Antonio Giovinazzi
“It was a bit frustrating to miss out on Q3 for just a tenth of a second. I was pretty happy with my final lap in Q2 until the final corner, where I made a small mistake: when the gaps are so small, this is the price you pay. We wanted more but we still have a decent opportunity to have a good race.
We have to take the positives, we get to choose our starting tyres and I think it can be an advantage. Our pace on softs in practice wasn’t great so I think to start on one of the other compounds is a better option. We are just outside the top ten – if we have a good start and a good strategy we can be right in the fight for points.”
Kimi Räikkönen (P12 - 2nd time in 2019)
Kimi Raikkonen
“To be honest that was not what we were hoping for, but we didn’t have an awful lot more speed unfortunately.
Overall it seems to be a difficult weekend for us, it’s not easy to get everything together. Everyone asks if the free tyre choice is an advantage – how do I know? We’ll see tomorrow.”
Romain Grosjean (P14 - 2nd time in 2019)
Romain Grosjean
“I’m frustrated with qualifying. We had Q3 in our hands, the car felt really good. In Q2 something was wrong with both sets of tires. The first lap I was 1.2 second off my fastest time, there was literally no grip. So, what’s happened behind the scenes – I don’t know. It just didn’t work well, I couldn’t repeat the pace of Q1. I’m hoping we find out, as we had Q3 in the car.
When we can be P9 with the car from Melbourne in Q1, it’s pretty impressive with that package. There’s a lot of potential, even though with the data there’s a lot less downforce. It’s working well in terms of feeling, it’s much better. We just need to understand the difference between the two packages and hopefully we can pile on some downforce.”
Kevin Magnussen P16 - 1st time in 2019)
Kevin Magnussen
“I’m frustrated to be lacking pace. It’s not like we looked super strong, but we were at least looking close to the midfield. It wouldn’t have taken much, or a big gain to have gotten in front of the midfield. Instead, we lost a lot of pace, and I can’t really explain why.
I suddenly had no front grip in qualifying without having really changed anything. We had made some changes to help the front, but it went the other way. It’s got to be something tire related again, I guess, but it’s difficult to explain. We’re spending this weekend trying to learn, hopefully get some points along the way, but it’s frustrating nonetheless.”
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team
Sergio Pérez (P15 - 3rd time in 2019)
Sergio Pérez
“Not an easy qualifying session and not the result we wanted. The car balance felt okay, but we were missing the ability to put our best sectors together. We felt more competitive yesterday, so we need to understand why we didn’t perform as well today.
It is frustrating because I want to be fighting in Q3 and we need to be there to score points. We won’t give up though, because you never know what can happen in the race. We know our starts are good so getting away well tomorrow will be really important for our final result.”
Lance Stroll (P18 - 2nd time in 2019)
Lance Stroll
“The margins were very small today. A tenth would have made the difference and helped me progress to Q2, but we just missed the cut. When you go through the data after the session, you can see where you could have found more time, but the whole grid is so close at the moment.
It’s a bit frustrating, but I prefer to take a glass-half-full approach because I think we can be stronger in the race. It won’t be easy starting so far back, but the long runs yesterday looked competitive and we usually perform better on Sundays.”
ROKiT Williams Racing
George Russel (P19 - 4th time in 2019)
George Russell
“We did a solid job with the set-up today and got the most out of the car. It was a good lap, it felt nice to drive and I had a smile on my face at the end.
The support from the home fans has been incredible, and to see them appreciate the job that I am doing is a really special feeling.”
Robert Kubica (P20 - 3rd time in 2019)
Robert Kubica
"The weather conditions here are a big factor, I felt more comfortable during my first run as the wind picked up throughout the session. It was clear to see the difference in conditions as we gained speed in some areas, but lost in others.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad qualifying session, however, the outcome is unfortunately the same."
✅ Check out 2019 British F1 GP Qualifying Report & Classification
✅ Check out 2019 British F1 GP Start Grid
✅ Check out 2019 F1 Championship Standings
Please share this on social media:
✅ Check out more posts with related topics: