British Grand Prix: Qualifying Recap

Event: Qualifying for the British Grand Prix – Saturday August 1
Location: Silverstone Circuit, England
Layout: 5.891-kilometer (3.66-mile), 18-turn circuit
Weather: Partly Cloudy
Air Temps: 22 degrees Celsius (71.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit)
Pole Winner: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:24.303) 
Result: Kevin Magnussen qualified 16th / Romain Grosjean qualified 19th 

Free Practice No. 3 Rundown

Grosjean: 15th overall (1:27.537), 18 laps completed
Magnussen: 18th overall (1:27.860) 15 laps completed
Fastest: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes (1:25.873)

Q1 Rundown: 

⦁    18-minute session with all 20 drivers – Top 15 advance to Q2

Magnussen: 16th overall (1:27.158)
Grosjean: 19th overall (1:27.643)
Fastest: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes (1:25.801) 

Q2 Rundown: 

⦁    15-minute session featuring the Top 15 from Q1 – Top 10 advance to Q3

Fastest: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes (1:25.015) 

Q3 Rundown: 

⦁    12-minute session featuring the Top 10 from Q2

Pole Winner: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:24.303)
Second: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes (1:24.616)

 

Recap

Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean qualified 16th and 19th, respectively, for Sunday’s British Grand Prix, the fourth round of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship at Silverstone Circuit. 

Both drivers are guaranteed an improved grid slot of at least one position with Alpha Tauri’s Daniil Kvyat, who qualified 14th, receiving a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, but with several drivers summoned to the stewards office post-race, additional gains are a possibility. 

Magnussen led the way for the Haas F1 Team duo in Q1 setting the 16th fastest lap of 1:27.158 on his third and final set of Pirelli P Zero Red softs in the session. Grosjean had his best lap of 1:27.317, set on his second set of softs, deleted due to exceeding track limits at turn nine. His final Q1 run netted a 1:27.643 to place 19th overall at the checkered.

Taking the pole for the British Grand Prix was Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, whose Q3 fast lap of 1:24.303 bested the track record of 1:25.093 set in Q3 in 2019 by his teammate Valtteri Bottas. It was the 91st career pole for Hamilton and his third of the season. Bottas was .313 of a second behind to take second position on the grid.

Romain Grosjean, Driver No. 8, Haas F1 Team

“I felt really good in FP3, I was happy with the car, especially with the balance. We made a few changes for qualifying, but the car just didn’t behave the same. That’s really something we’ve been suffering with – session-to-session it’s not quite the same. It was complicated. We had three attempts in Q1 but none of them were really good. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow. We’re in England, lots can happen with the weather. It was supposed to rain for qualifying and we’ve got blue sky. Maybe tomorrow will be the opposite and we can take advantage of it.”

Kevin Magnussen, Driver No. 20, Haas F1 Team

“We saw this coming. It was our expectation coming into this race weekend, but we did the job that we could in qualifying ahead of the Alfa Romeos, who are our main competitors. That’s all we can do at the moment. There’s a bit of a jump to the next group. As long as we make sure we get the most out of qualifying, even though we’re a little weak there, that’s what we have to focus on – being as high up there as we can. There are a few guys now that might have some penalties, so that might push us a little bit further up the grid. Who knows, that might move us closer to hopefully scoring points again.” 

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

“I’m not really happy with the result, but it’s not unexpected after the free practices we’ve had at the circuit. It’s just so difficult for us to get out of Q1, that’s where we are now. There’s nothing else to do than to go through it, and hopefully tomorrow our starting slots will be a bit better once penalties are applied to the grid. We’ll try to get the race pace together like we did in Hungary and hopefully we can make something out of it.”