Lewis Hamilton lifts lid on ‘scary’ Ferrari prediction after British GP sprint pole

Lewis Hamilton made the perfect start to the British Grand Prix weekend on Friday. P1 in practice was followed pole position for the Sprint.

Hamilton revealed a scary prediction made by Ferrari that they would be giving up six tenths in a straight line. Yet when Sprint qualifying came around, and Hamilton wondered if he was truly in the fight, the answer was yes. He starts the British GP Sprint from pole.

Lewis Hamilton on Sprint pole at British Grand Prix

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Hamilton also confirmed that the energy management impacts around Silverstone were not as severe as feared.

SQ3 proved to be a one-lap shootout for the P1 grid slot. Hamilton emerged victorious by a mere 0.011s over Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, securing pole for the Sprint.

It was an achievement which understandably delighted Hamilton, who going into the race weekend, expressed concerns over how battery harvesting would impact the Silverstone spectacle.

Hamilton gladly reported that it was a false alarm.

“I am so happy. So, so happy, honestly,” Hamilton said of his achievement.

“Because you even heard me in the press conference, I was like, ‘Oh, the track’s not going to be the same,’ because that’s what we all thought, and the track’s still phenomenal, the track still feels great. The engine drop off is not anywhere near what we anticipated.”

That was not the only engine talking point coming into the race weekend.

Ferrari’s struggle for straight-line speed has been a recurring theme in F1 2026. Ferrari introduced an updated engine in Austria, but on the energy deployment side, Antonelli was left speaking of almost crashing into Charles Leclerc, such was the “weird” Ferrari deployment.

Ferrari feared the worst at Silverstone, but Hamilton proved the class of the Sprint qualifying field.

“On top of that, yesterday they [Ferrari] were scaring me,” Hamilton continued.

“They were like, ‘We’re going to be six tenths off in a straight line to these guys,’ and in the last race we were four tenths off in the straight line.

“But today all of a sudden, we’re kind of there and I was like: ‘Is this real? Are they going to turn up in quali?’

“We were right there competing with them.

“I always want to bring it back to everyone back at the factory, because I can’t say it enough, they’re just pushing.

“Last year we were kind of stuck in a rut, not a lot we could do. Now they’re finding things, they’re adding things to the car, and this weekend, every single weekend we bring in small little bits and add in performance to this car, and it felt awesome. Silverstone is the best track to drive.”

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Ferrari also struggled with tyre management across a blisteringly hot Austrian Grand Prix.

The conditions may be mighty fine for a typical British summer at Silverstone, but track temperatures will not be anywhere near as extreme as the mid-60s of Austria.

Hamilton gave reason for encouragement when asked how confident he is of a Sprint win and fighting for pole for the main race.

Behind Hamilton and Antonelli on the front row, one will find Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Leclerc.

“I’ll have to go and look at the long run pace, but the car felt great on the long run, to be honest,” he said.

“It’s going to be tough, obviously, with these guys, they’re very, very close.

“But I don’t think it’s impossible. We’re in a great position. But obviously, there’s a lot of towing that can be done through the first laps, which won’t be easy to keep a Mercedes or a Red Bull engine behind. But I’ll give it absolutely everything for these fans.”

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