Max Verstappen took a shock pole position in qualifying for the 2025 British Grand Prix, crossing the finish line at the very last moment to knock Oscar Piastri off the top of the starting grid.

The reigning champion had been complaining about his Red Bull‘s handling, as Ferrari and McLaren looked most likely to be the pole contenders. But Verstappen left it to the last moment and was the final car to cross the line, storming to a time that was a tenth of a second quicker than anybody else.

“This is a proper track,” said Verstappen. “In qualifying, where you have to go flat out in all these corners, you have to be really committed and that’s really enjoyable.”

Scroll down or click to see how the grid will look when it lines up for the 12th grand prix of the season, which starts at 3pm local time.

The battle for pole was close: less than a tenth of a second split Oscar Piastri in second and Lewis Hamilton in fifth — with Lando Norris and George Russell in the middle of that Brit-dominated sandwich.

The usual faces were joined in the final Q3 stage by Pierre Gasly in a tricky-looking Alpine, as well as Oliver Bearman who set the eighth fastest time but will start 18th, due to a ten-place grid penalty for disregarding red flags in the third practice session. Bearman had accelerated up to race pace as he entered the pitlane then lost control and crashed.

Kimi Antonelli will also serve a grid penalty for hitting Verstappen in the Austrian Grand Prix. A three-place drop will see him start tenth.

The first Q1 stage was interrupted when, for the second qualifying session in a row, an Alpine spun at the final corner. This time it was Franco Colapinto who couldn’t recover back to the pits after hitting the wall, resulting in a red flag with 6min 49sec left in the session.

Drizzle fell at the restart but times were still improving, and Hamilton was lucky to make it to Q2, scraping through in 14th place. Leaving qualifying at this stage with the five slowest times were Colapinto, Nico Hülkenberg, Lance Stroll, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson.

Hamilton then topped the timings in Q2, five-hundredths of a second ahead of his team-mate, as the Ferraris returned to the top of the timing sheet, where they have been all weekend. At the other end, both Williams ended in the drop zone: Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz knocked out along with Esteban Ocon, Isack Hadjar, and Yuki Tsunoda.