Asia

British GP preview: Pole-seater Sainz looking for first win, Hamilton unhappy with crowd’s booing Verstappen

July 3, 2022

Carlos Sainz took 151 tries to get his first Formula One pole. Now he will chase that elusive first victory.

Sainz set the fastest time in the third qualifying session, only .072 seconds behind Verstappen. It was the seventh pole in 10 races for Ferrari this season, although Sainz teammate Charles Leclerc earned the first six poles before Sainz’s surprise run.

“First pole position, it’s always special, and especially to do it in the wet at Silverstone,” Sainz said. “Keeped it cool during the session and I finally decided to push.” Sainz missed out on his first career win 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 has never been on the top step. He has finished second three times this season.

Leclerc will start in third place ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.

But starting with Sainz at the front line on Sunday at the British Grand Prix will be defending F1 champion Max Verstappen, who got a year away from a crash with Lewis Hamilton that turned their title fight into a bitter rivalry. Some in the crowd booed Verstappen after Saturday’s action-packed qualifying session in the rain, saying he could barely hear his on-track interview questions jokingly.

“If they want to boo, they do it. To me, it’s not going to 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.”

Sunday’s race is expected to be largely dry after a rainy qualifying session. The better position could be in favor of two Red Bulls after Verstappen set the fastest lap time for anyone this weekend in the final practice session before the rain started at Silverstone. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton qualified for his home race in fifth place as it looked like Mercedes had progressed with its problems bouncing off speed. His teammate George Russell was eighth.

As Verstappen spoke trackside after qualifying, boons were audible for the Dutchman and he could barely hear the questions asked during his interview. Hamilton was not happy with the reaction of his home audience towards his opponent.

“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 feel the emotions, the ups and downs, but I’m definitely booing I don’t agree with you,” Hamilton said. “I don’t know, maybe some of them are still feeling pain from last year. Either way, I don’t agree.”

Verstappen and Hamilton collided in last year’s race, with Verstappen hitting the wall while Hamilton parrying a penalty for the win. The incident further escalated their often-bitter rivalry in a title race eventually won by Verstappen, and turned some British fans against Verstappen.

He was taken to hospital for observation after the accident and complained that Hamilton showed poor sportsmanship by celebrating the victory as Verstappen was being medically evaluated.

Drivers have been addressing negative fan reactions of late, with Russell noting on Thursday that he was booed by a random fan in Montreal two weeks ago. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff took the side of his drivers.

“We shouldn’t see any bounce in any game,” Wolff said. “I think it’s like non-player. It’s clear we love the support of the drivers and the team, it’s fantastic, and there’s excitement. But if you’re not into the other guys, shut up. This one “I think whatever happened last year, whatever the competition, none of the drivers deserves any booze.”

In the build-up to this year’s race, three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet has used racial slurs and homophobic language to describe Hamilton in an interview that was filmed last year after the crash at Silverstone. The interview didn’t receive widespread attention until this week, before getting back on track.

Hamilton and other drivers condemned Piquet. Verstappen, who is dating Piquet’s daughter Kelly, said Piquet used “very offensive” language, but added that the Brazilian was also “a very nice and relaxed guy” 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 everything together and I wasn’t there as a driver, so I didn’t deserve to be on pole,” he said.

Further back on the grid, there was another surprise in the rain as Nicolas Latifi qualified a career-best 10th for Williams. The Canadian finished no more than 14th in the entire season and was driving an older version of the car than his teammate Alexander Albon, who finished 16th.

“Getting to Q2 was a huge achievement and a good confidence booster, and then Q3 was much more than what we could have expected,” Latifi said. His seat at Williams is in danger.

“We need to be very strategic about how we get into the race. How we manage the tyres, it will be a crash race. Anything is possible. So we will focus on our race and our way.” Will make the most of any opportunity that comes my way.”

The British Grand Prix will begin on Sunday, at 7.30 pm IST on Star Sports Network and Hotstar.