Report: Busy Silverstone Sprint and Qualifying Saturday
A flat-out Sprint and a gusty qualifying hour set the stage for Sunday at the team’s home race
Published
04 JUL 2026
Est. reading time
2 min
Both cars progressed through to the second qualifying phase for the second successive day at Silverstone as the grid was set for the 2026 British Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz will line up P15, with Alex Albon alongside him in P16, after a gusty qualifying hour at the home of British motorsport.
The day had begun with a 17-lap Sprint around this storied venue, where Carlos got away cleanly and climbed to P13 at one stage on the opening lap before slipping back to P17.
Alex, who had started from the pit lane after changing his setup to test a new direction, was quickly onto the back of his teammate after an action-packed opening three laps, which included a move up the inside at Maggotts.
Despite knocking on the door of a Haas in the closing stages, our duo crossed the line in P17 and P18 after the 100km dash.
Later in the afternoon, it was time to qualify, but both drivers backed off from their initial Q1 attempts, giving themselves two more runs to make it through to the top 16.
Their first timed laps put them above the elimination line, and their final attempts further solidified their progression - Carlos was P14 after a 1:30.562, with Alex in P16 after a 1:30.638.
Realistically, making it into Q3 was unlikely; however, there was still learning to be gained. Carlos’ banker of 1:30.825 was improved to a 1:30.623 to take P15, while Alex found time from his 1:31.341 with a 1:30.743 to secure P16.
Full reaction to follow.
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