Home favourite Lewis Hamilton on pole ahead of Kimi Antonelli for British Grand Prix sprint

[p]The seven-time ‌world champion delighted ⁠his ‌home crowd with the ​fastest lap in all three ​phases of Friday's qualifying session and ⁠finished ​with a best lap of one minute 28.376 seconds on ‌a sunny afternoon at Silverstone.[/p][p]Mercedes's Formula One leader [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/antonelli-andrea-kimi/ptGu0mT1/"]Kimi Antonelli[/a] was 0.011 slower than [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hamilton-lewis/tI5Vpe1h/"]Hamilton[/a], who has won a record nine British Grands Prix wins since his 2007 debut with McLaren.[/p][p]"[b]I love this place and I love this crowd. I can’t express to you how big a dream it is[/b]," said Hamilton after stepping out of his car and saluting the adoring crowd.[/p][p]"[b]The car has felt great today... I’m really grateful to get that pole. I was quick through all the sessions but still, it was only 11 milliseconds, so it was very close to these guys[/b]."[/p][p]Red Bull's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/verstappen-max/UV3mgeXB/"]Max Verstappen[/a] qualified third with Ferrari's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/leclerc-charles/KlCOSRub/"]Charles Leclerc[/a] fourth and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/russell-george/xxF56RaN/"]‌George Russell[/a], Antonelli's ​teammate and closest ‌rival, fifth. McLaren's world champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/norris-lando/WSVABbVF/"]Lando Norris[/a], last year's winner, starts sixth.[/p][embed guid="07b4228e-26b7-42c8-a519-6268b2768443" url="https://x.com/ScuderiaFerrari/status/2073084306537513222" social-type="twitter" /][p]Antonelli is 40 points clear of Russell after eight rounds and can extend that on Saturday, with eight points going to the winner of the 100-km race. [/p][p]The pole was Hamilton's first of any sort this season and first also since a sprint qualifying in China last year.[/p][p]The 41-year-old great, who took his first grand prix win for Ferrari in Spain last month, has yet to take a regular pole since July 2023 when he was at Mercedes.[/p][p]Throughout the session, Hamilton made the difference, the Briton pushing himself to another level as has been the case so often in the past at a circuit where he has lived some of the great afternoons of his career.[/p][p]"[b]We are ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull and these guys have so much power[/b]," he said. "[b]They have been doing amazing all year but my team just won't let up and they keep pushing and that is what I am so proud of[/b].[/p][p]"[b]We didn't expect we would be coming to Silverstone and competing for the front row. We really, really didn't. But this is an amazing surprise and I am ecstatic[/b]."[/p]