Lewis Hamilton has made a storming start to the British Grand Prix weekend by claiming pole position for Saturday's Sprint at Silverstone.
On a weekend he will go in search of a landmark 10th victory at his home race in Sunday's main Grand Prix, Hamilton made the perfect start on Friday by topping practice and then all three segments of Sprint Qualifying to pip Mercedes' title-leading Kimi Antonelli to pole by 0.011s.
It marks the seven-time world champion's first pole position in either of Formula 1's qualifying formats since last season's Sprint in China, which he won, and maintains the 41-year-old's growing momentum in his second year at Ferrari three weeks after winning the race in Barcelona.
Hamilton had strongly played down Ferrari's prospects at Silverstone in interviews on Thursday owing to Ferrari's supposed straight-line speed deficit to championship leaders Mercedes.
But on a high-speed circuit where power is king, the Ferrari SF-26 looked competitive from the outset, with Hamilton producing another masterclass around Silverstone to lead the resurgent Scuderia's charge again.
A jubilant Hamilton, whose pole was cheered by the large Friday crowd at a sun-kissed circuit, said afterwards that Ferrari's form relative to Mercedes so far had come as an "amazing surprise".
Your Site F1's Martin Brundle said: "Lewis made the difference. That was a classic Lewis Hamilton Silverstone lap."
With Antonelli just falling short of Hamilton in second, Max Verstappen took third in the improved Red Bull to complete an eye-catching one-two-three on the grid for Saturday's 17-lap Sprint.
But Charles Leclerc could again not match Hamilton in the sister Ferrari, lapping three tenths slower than his team-mate to take fourth. But Leclerc was still ahead of Austria victor George Russell, who struggled relative to Antonelli throughout the session and could only manage fifth place in an early blow to his own home race weekend.
World champions McLaren were never a factor in the pole fight.
Lando Norris, who carried car damage through the first two segments before repairs ahead of SQ3, eventually pipped team-mate Oscar Piastri to sixth but the McLaren duo, whose cars are running in throwback white and green livery this weekend, wound up four tenths off the pace.
Isack Hadjar had run ahead of Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen in SQ1 but eventually slipped to eighth on the soft tyres, although still lapped only a tenth behind the third-placed Dutchman.
Hadjar stayed ahead of the Racing Bulls pair of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, who continued their consistent top-10 form of recent weeks.
Given he had talked down Ferrari's prospects of beating Mercedes this weekend, Hamilton admitted he was surprised to be ahead in the weekend's first battle for pole.
"We're ahead of a Mercedes and the Red Bull, they have so much power these guys," he said.
"They've been doing amazing all year, the boys in blue (Mercedes) this weekend, these champs.
"But my team won't let up, they'll keep pushing, and that's what I'm so proud of.
"It won't always be like this, but we didn't expect coming to Silverstone that we'd be competing for the front row, we really, really didn't."
Antonelli, who leads Russell by 40 points and Hamilton by 46 points in the Drivers' Championship, had looked the more comfortable of the two Mercedes drivers on Friday but fell narrowly short of ensuring a Silver Arrow pole.
"The car felt good," said the Italian teenager.
"Ferrari have done an incredible step forward, so definitely it's going to be very tough. Plus, Lewis is in great form, but that's good, we like the challenge and we'll try to make the best out of it.
"Of course (I can fight for the win tomorrow), we'll go for it and we'll try to do our best. It's not going to be easy, but everything is on the table to do well."
Saturday July 4
9.30am: F3 Sprint*
11am: British GP Sprint build-up*
12pm: BRITISH GP SPRINT*
1.40pm: F2 Sprint*
2.50pm: British GP Qualifying build-up*
4pm: BRITISH GP QUALIFYING*
6pm: F1 Academy Race 1
6.45pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 5
8.20am: F3 Feature Race*
9.55am: F1 Academy Race 2*
11.10am: F2 Feature Race*
12.55pm: Grand Prix Sunday: British GP build-up*
3pm: THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX*
5pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction
6pm: Ted's Notebook
*also on Your Site Main Event
Formula 1 is in Silverstone for a Sprint weekend at the British Grand Prix - live on Your Site F1 and Sky One - with Sunday's race at 3pm.
