Lewis Hamilton: The pole was a magnificent surprise!

      The qualification for the sprint on the British track was fiercely contested, but Lewis Hamilton emerged the fastest – to the delight of the local crowd. The Ferrari driver was just 0.011 seconds ahead of Kimi Antonelli, while Max Verstappen, who showed the third-best time, was already more than three-tenths behind, and Charles Leclerc, Lewis's teammate, finished fourth.

      Lewis Hamilton (1st): "I love this circuit, I love this crowd, and I can't express in words how much I still dream of success to this day, how I prepare for this race, thinking about every corner, about how great it is to get into the right rhythm if the car is set up correctly and you have a great team behind you.

      And today the car feels fantastic, so thanks to everyone working at the base in Maranello, our task is simply to keep attacking. For this stage, we prepared just a few small technical updates – the team brings something new to each weekend. Everyone is giving their all.

      I am truly grateful to everyone for this pole! I was quick in all sessions, but I beat everyone by just ten thousandths, so the competition was fierce. Our team deserves this success!

      The support from the British crowd helps to gain at least a couple of tenths! We outpaced Mercedes and Red Bull, even though their cars are much more powerful. The guys from Mercedes have been performing brilliantly all season, but my team continues to push hard, not letting up, and I am very proud of that.

      We won't always be able to show such results, although we didn't expect to be on the front row in Silverstone, so the pole was a fantastic surprise! I'm just thrilled!

      I think we are doing well with race pace, judging by how we conducted the practice, although the series of laps wasn't that long. But the car performed well, so I believe we can do well in tomorrow's sprint.

      I can't even remember the last time I started on this track from the front row. It won't be easy, as the guys behind us are starting in very fast and potentially more powerful cars. But I will do everything I can to hold them back."

      Charles Leclerc (4th): "Before the final qualification, I felt confident, just a little bit short of really extracting the maximum from the car on each lap.

      We didn't expect to be so competitive on this track, so overall the result is positive. Let's see what we can do tomorrow in the sprint, and then we'll focus on qualifying."

      Frederic Vasseur, team principal: "Congratulations to Lewis and the whole team on today's result. Throughout the weekend, the preparatory work done in Maranello for the sprint is even more significant than usual, so I would like to thank everyone who has been working hard.

      Lewis has perfectly started his home weekend, but we understand that we haven't achieved anything yet. Charles is also starting from a good position, and tomorrow's sprint will give us important benchmarks for the remaining days of the weekend. Our goal is to earn as many points as possible in the sprint, and then immediately focus on qualifying for the Grand Prix to achieve another great result."