The new regime is here! The qualifying sprint offered exciting battles for pole position. Did you like it?

A brand new experiment in Formula 1 is over! After yesterday’s qualifying on Friday, we have now completed Saturday’s first ever qualifying sprint. Who took pole position in this sprint and which of the favourites dropped to the very back of the grid?

New mode. That’s a safe way to describe the race weekend in the UK at the traditional Silverstone circuit. Yesterday we saw an unusual start to the race weekend – for the first time the drivers took to the track in the familiar Friday opening practice.

However, instead of the second practice session, we were then treated to Friday’s qualifying session, which we are all familiar with. First Q1, followed by Q2 and the final third part of qualifying, or Q3. However, this qualifying session did not determine our order for Sunday’s race, but for Saturday’s qualifying sprint.

That was on the agenda on Saturday. Fans of F2 or F3 will already be familiar with this race weekend format, but for the F1 world it is a complete novelty. And what does this qualifying sprint actually bring?

First and foremost, it has brought a lot more fans to the race track and the TV screens. Over 100,000 spectators watched the qualifying sprint on Saturday! With Saturday’s sprint being scheduled for 17 laps, all strategies went by the wayside and the drivers gave their all to the racing.

No pit-stop was mandatory, which eliminates all overcuts and undercuts and, last but not least, all drivers have a free choice of tyres not only for the qualifying sprint but also for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Also, the victory laurels that we regularly saw in Grand Prix back in the 1980s have returned to the F1 environment. However, they were later removed, on the grounds that they obscured the sponsors on the drivers’ overalls.

The pole position in Saturday’s sprint was taken by Max Verstappen, who, especially in the early laps, had a great battle for the lead with Lewis Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas finished third and Charles Leclerc will start fourth in his Ferrari on Sunday.

Fifth and sixth place belong to both McLarens, with Fernando Alonso taking a great seventh place. He was one of the four drivers who wore the softest set of tyres marked in red for the qualifying sprint.

He was rewarded for this courage with seventh place. The Alpine’s race pace is not exactly dazzling, and add to that the fact that the softest tyre specification simply lasts for a few laps, after which you need to develop a truly reliable performance.

The big mistake was made on lap five by Sergio Pérez in the Red Bull, who spun on the exit of the essie at Becketts corner and dropped to nineteenth. The team then retired his car on the final lap. Pérez will therefore start Sunday’s race from the very tail of the grid.

So what does the starting grid look like for the British Grand Prix?

1. Verstappen, 2nd Hamilton, 3rd Bottas, 4th Leclerc, 5th Norris, 6th Ricciardo, 7th Alonso, 8th Vettel, 9th Russell, 10th Ocon, 11th Sainz, 12th Gasly, 13th Räikkönen, 14th Stroll, 15th Giovinazzi, 16th Cunoda, 17th Latifi, 18th Schumacher, 19th Mazepin, 20th Pérez.

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