It’s Max Verstappen on pole position at Silverstone this weekend, but he wasn’t the only driver who performed well during the quickest sessions of the British Grand Prix weekend.
These are PlanetF1.com’s winners and losers from qualifying for the 2025 British Grand Prix.
Winners and Losers from 2025 British Grand Prix qualifying
Winner: Max Verstappen
It’s another pole position for the inimitable Max Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver struggled with his RB21 all weekend long, complaining of both understeer and oversteer as he tried to master Silverstone’s high-speed bends.
Finally, the team decided to remove some downforce from the rear wing — and that seemed to resolve Verstappen’s issues (or, at the very least, to make them manageable for the reigning champion).
In the post-qualifying press conference, the McLaren drivers of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both pointed out that Silverstone has some similarities to Suzuka — a track where Verstappen previously won this year.
It’ll be a long race, but if Verstappen can hold his pole position into the first corner of the British GP, he’ll have everyone playing catch up.
Loser: Franco Colapinto
Franco Colapinto is fighting for his future in Formula 1, and unfortunately, that future isn’t looking good.
Alpine’s driver line-up this season consists of Pierre Gasly — who impressed yet again with a trip into Q3 — but that second seat has rotated between the Australian Jack Doohan and Argentina’s Colapinto.
Both drivers were given a handful of races in which to prove themselves, and unfortunately, both have struggled.
And Colapinto’s performance in qualifying for the British GP isn’t the miracle he’d be hoping for this weekend.
He crashed at the very end of a fast lap in Q1, claiming that “I just lost the rear in the last one going on power.”
Losing the rear at the final corner at Silverstone, Club, isn’t uncommon, but Colapinto kept his foot on the throttle even as the Alpine began to lose control.
Rather than a quick jaunt into the gravel, he powered right through the trap and into the wall.
It’ll be a 20th-place start for Colapinto. Whether or not that’s his final attempt at qualifying for a grand prix remains to be seen.
Winner: George Russell
After a few challenging weekends, Mercedes driver George Russell seems to have once again found his footing.
At the start of the year, Russell was easily the dark horse title challenger of the season; in these past few races, with the notable expection of his Canadian Grand Prix victory, that pace has dissipated, and Russell’s chances of being a long-shot challenger just keep getting longer.
But Mr. Saturday struck again, putting together a strong lap the moment it mattered in Q3 despite never looking like a contender for the first two rows of the grid.
That’s a win in and of itself, but if he can convert that fourth-place start into a strong finishing position, he’ll keep a strong hold on his fourth place in the World Drivers’ Championship standings.
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Loser: Ferrari
Is fifth and sixth the end of the world? It is not.
But for the Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, it certainly leaves a lot to be desired.
Both drivers led the field in one practice session — FP1 for Hamilton, FP3 for Leclerc — but when we got to Q3, it all fell apart.
Leclerc ended the session incensed at his own performance, calling himself “f*cking sh*t” and lamenting to media that he’s lost his magic touch in qualifying, which used to be one of his strengths.
But when it came to pinpointing the exact details as to what issue was resulting in this struggle, the Monegasque driver remained mum.
Meanwhile, Hamilton was far more pleased with his result considering the challenges he’s faced adapting to the SF-25 this year; according to him, the qualifying pace was compromised by the car’s tendency to understeer in low-speed corners.
Ferrari was one of the most perplexing parts of qualifying.
In Q1, both drivers struggled to even near the top of the charts, and they didn’t regain that position until the end of Q2.
Then came Q3, where Hamilton looked set to challenge for pole… only for the run to fizzle away in the final sectors.
It may be a better session than we’ve seen recently from Ferrari, but it’s still not great — particularly considering that pace seems extremely inconsistent.
Winner: Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly has proven once again that he’s Alpine’s secret weapon.
In a weekend where his teammate struggled once again and where his car looked cumbersome, Gasly nevertheless found his stride by making his seventh Q3 appearance in the past 12 races despite claiming that his car “wasn’t very kind” to him so far this weekend.
Gasly set a time good enough for 10th-fastest in Q3, but he’ll earn a promotion to P8 thanks to grid-drop penalties for both Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman.
If the Alpine is challenging in qualifying, it’s perhaps even more difficult to manage over the course of a race, but Gasly will be hoping to hold onto his top-10 position to bring home some points come Sunday afternoon.
Loser: Oliver Bearman
In a vacuum, Oliver Bearman’s qualifying session at his home race was impressive: He carried his Haas all the way through to Q3, where he set the eighth-fastest time.
But he’ll start at the very back of the grid thanks to a mistake in FP3: He collided with the barriers at pit entry under red-flagged conditions — netting him a 10-place grid penalty on Sunday and a whopping four penalty points on his super license.
Bearman was truly impressive on his one-lap flying runs.
But unfortunately, one of his strongest qualifying sessions of the year also happened to come after his first major mistake as a Formula 1 driver.
Winner: Fernando Alonso
It took Fernando Alonso quite a while to find his form during the F1 2025 season, but now it looks like it’s here to stay.
The Spaniard once again powered through to Q3, where he set a lap good enough for ninth on the grid.
That’s his fifth trip to the final round of qualifying in the past six races — a major change when compared to the start of the year, and particularly impressive considering it was another Q1 exit for Alonso’s Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll.
Ninth-quickest in qualifying may not be the pinnacle of Alonso’s Formula 1 career, but it does at least set him up well to end another race in the points.
Loser: Sauber
Sauber’s hot streak has come to an end.
The green team snagged its first double-points finish last time out in Austria, with Gabriel Bortoleto taking his first-ever F1 points in the process (oh, and Sauber also managed to outscore Red Bull last weekend!).
Now, it’s back to business as usual, with Bortoleto qualifying 17th on the grid and Nico Hulkenberg 19th.
The Brazilian will benefit from a bump forward thanks to Bearman’s penalty, but the C45 simply hasn’t looked strong all weekend, nor did the drivers maximise their track time in Q1.
The chances of another points-scoring finish are now quite slim at Silverstone.
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