SILVERSTONE, England (AP) — It took Carlos Sainz 151 attempts to win his first Formula One pole. Now he will chase that elusive first win.
But alongside Sainz on the front row at Sunday’s British Grand Prix will be defending Formula One champion Max Verstappen, a year after the crash with Lewis Hamilton turned their title battle into a bitter rivalry.
Verstappen was booed by some in the crowd after Saturday’s action-packed qualifying session in the rain and said he could barely hear his on-track interview questions because of the jeers.
“If they want to boo, they do. For me, it won’t change anything,” he said. “Maybe some of them don’t like me, but that’s okay. Everyone has their own opinion. I do not care.”
Sainz set the fastest time at the end of the third qualifying session to edge Verstappen by just 0.072 seconds. It was Ferrari’s seventh pole from 10 races this season, although Sainz’s team-mate Charles Leclerc had won the first six poles before Sainz’s surprise run.
“First pole, it’s always special, especially to do it at Silverstone in the wet,” Sainz said. “I kept it cool through the session and towards the end I decided to push.”
Sainz narrowly missed out on what would have been his first career victory two weeks ago at the Canadian Grand Prix, where he finished just behind Verstappen. The Spanish driver has been on the podium 11 times in his career, but never on the top step. He finished second three times this season.
Leclerc will start third, ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.
Sunday’s race is expected to be mostly dry after rainy qualifying. The improved conditions could work in favor of the two Red Bulls after Verstappen set the fastest lap time of anyone this weekend in the final practice session before the rain began to fall at Silverstone.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth for his home race as Mercedes looked to have progressed with their high-speed bouncing problems. His teammate George Russell finished eighth.
As Verstappen spoke trackside after qualifying, boos could be heard for the Dutchman and he could barely hear the questions being asked during his interview. Hamilton was not happy with his home crowd’s reaction to his rival.
“I think we’re better than that. I would say we don’t need to boo, but we have such great fans and our sports fans, they have emotions, ups and downs, but I definitely don’t agree with the boos,” Hamilton said. “I don’t know, maybe some of them still they still feel the pain from last year. Either way, I disagree.”
Verstappen and Hamilton collided in last year’s race, with Verstappen hitting the wall while Hamilton overcame a penalty to win. The incident further exacerbated their often bitter rivalry in the race for the title eventually won by Verstappen, and turned some British fans against Verstappen.
He was taken to hospital for observation after the crash and complained that Hamilton had shown poor sportsmanship by celebrating the victory while Verstappen underwent a medical.
The drivers have been paying attention to backlash from fans lately, with Russell noting on Thursday that he was booed by a random fan in Montreal two weeks ago. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff sided with his drivers.
“We shouldn’t be seeing boos in any sport,” Wolff said. “I think it’s unsportsmanlike. Obviously we love the support the drivers have here and the team, it’s fantastic, and the enthusiasm. But if you’re not into other guys, just shut up. That would be a good way.
“I don’t think any of the drivers deserve boos, whatever happened last year, whatever the race.”
The build-up to this year’s race has been dominated by three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet’s use of racial slurs and homophobic language to describe Hamilton in an interview filmed last year after the Silverstone crash. The interview didn’t get much attention until this week, before the return to the track.
Hamilton and other drivers condemned Piquet. Verstappen, who is dating Piquet’s daughter Kelly, said Piquet had used “very offensive” language, but added that the Brazilian was also a “really nice and calm person” who was not racist.
Leclerc said he thought his Ferrari was “competitive” but a mistake prevented him from challenging for pole position.
“I knew this was the lap where I had to put it all together and I didn’t do it as a driver so I didn’t deserve to be in first position,” he said.
Further back on the grid there was another surprise in the rain as Canadian Nicholas Latifi qualified a career-best 10th for Williams. The Montreal-born, Toronto-raised driver hadn’t finished a race higher than 14th all season and was driving an older version of the car than teammate Alexander Albon, who was 16th.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll of Montreal was 20th.
“Getting to Q2 was a great achievement and a good confidence boost and then Q3 was more than we could have hoped for,” said Latifi, who was followed by speculation that his place at Williams was in jeopardy.
“We have to approach the competition very strategically. It will be a race of attrition with how we manage the tires. Anything is possible. so we will focus on our own race and maximize any opportunities that may come our way.”
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