Ecstatic Hamilton puts Ferrari on pole for Silverstone sprint

Lewis Hamilton continued a decades-long love affair with Silverstone by seizing pole position for Saturday's British Grand Prix sprint race as his home crowd hailed their Ferrari hero's achievement.

The seven-times world champion was fastest in sole practice and all three phases of Friday's qualifying session, finishing the day with a best lap of one minute 28.376 seconds on a sunny afternoon at Silverstone.

Mercedes's Formula One leader Kimi Antonelli was 0.011 slower than Hamilton, who has won a record nine British Grands Prix wins since his 2007 debut with McLaren.

"I love this place and I love this crowd. I can’t express to you how big a dream it is," said Hamilton after stepping out of his car and saluting the adoring crowd.

"The car has felt great today... I’m really grateful to get that pole. I was quick through all the sessions but still, it was only 11 milliseconds, so it was very close to these guys."

Red Bull's Max Verstappen qualified third with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc fourth and George Russell, Antonelli's teammate and closest rival, fifth.

McLaren's world champion Lando Norris, last year's winner, starts sixth.

Antonelli is 40 points clear of Russell after eight rounds and can extend that on Saturday, with eight points going to the winner of the 100 km race.

The pole was Hamilton's first of any sort this season and first also since a sprint qualifying in China last year.

The 41-year-old great, who took his first grand prix win for Ferrari in Spain last month, has yet to take a regular pole since July 2023 when he was at Mercedes.

Throughout the session Hamilton made the difference, the Briton pushing himself to another level as has been the case so often in the past at a circuit where he has lived some of the great afternoons of his career.

"We are ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull and these guys have so much power," he said. "They have been doing amazing all year but my team just won't let up and they keep pushing and that is what I am so proud of.

"We didn't expect we would be coming to Silverstone and competing for the front row. We really, really didn't. But this is an amazing surprise and I am ecstatic."