Adrian DENNIS / AFP
World championship chief Max Verstappen received Formula One’s inaugural dash race on Saturday to take pole place for the British Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver completed the 100km sprint forward of defending world champion Lewis Hamilton with Valtteri Bottas within the second Mercedes in third place.
Verstappen went into the weekend with a 32-point lead over seven-time champion Hamilton who’s hoping to seize an eighth British Grand Prix triumph on Sunday.
“We were pushing each other hard as the tyres were blistering a lot,” mentioned Verstappen who collected three factors for his win.
Hamilton took two and Bottas one.
“I am happy to have scored the three points and it is funny to say I have scored the pole position too, but we’ll take it,” added the Dutchman.
Hamilton began the dash on the entrance of the grid having topped qualifying on Friday.
However, he admitted he’ll face a battle to safe a 99th profession win in entrance of round 90,000 followers on Sunday.
“First of all, let me say thank you to the fans, their energy is amazing,” he mentioned.
“I gave it everything today, I’m just sorry I couldn’t win it for them. Tomorrow we will fight again, but Red Bull are just so strong.”
Saturday’s dash qualifying race was the primary of three deliberate for this 12 months.
Another will observe on the Italian Grand Prix in September with the third venue nonetheless to be confirmed.
AFP