SILVERSTONE: Max Verstappen demonstrated his and Red Bull’s supremacy with dramatic effect on Saturday when he claimed a fifth consecutive pole position by topping qualifying for the British Grand Prix.

The double world champion and runaway series leader clocked a late best lap time to outpace McLaren’s British driver Lando Norris by two-tenths of a second.

Australian rookie Oscar Piastri was third fastest in the second McLaren ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and the Mercedes of George Russell and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

“It has been a bit of a crazy qualifying and pretty hectic,” said Verstappen of the wet and dry session run in changeable conditions. “But we stuck to our plans and I am very happy to have pole position.”

As he celebrated, his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, who trails him by 81 points in the drivers’ title race, suffered a fifth early exit this season in Q1.

Norris who briefly held provisional pole position claimed his third front row career start.

“This makes up for everything,” he said. “But it’s always Max — he ruins everything for everyone too!” Williams’ Alex Albon was eighth ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly of Alpine.

Red Bull have won 10 races in a row, including last season’s finale in Abu Dhabi, and are poised to equal McLaren’s all-time record run of 11 set by late great Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1988.

Norris looked like he was about to seize pole when he set a time of one minute 26.961 seconds right at the end, only for Verstappen to go quicker with his final stellar effort of 1:26.720.

Verstappen is chasing his sixth win in a row and eighth of the season with a third title already looking an absolute formality.

He had a far from perfect afternoon, even if he said it was ‘very lovely’, with the 25-year-old making an uncharacteristic error when he drove out of the garage and into the pit lane wall at the end of the first phase.

“I just understeered and it didn’t grip,” he said apologetically after being pushed back for a new front wing.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2023