Spaniards for points? Alonso recalls the 2023 Aston Martin, and Sainz comes alive.

"He's the best, when he has a car like the others he takes pole . He hasn't won as many times as Hamilton, but he's the best, as he proves time and time again." With his personal spin, Fernando Alonso sealed Max Verstappen's extraordinary result for the British Grand Prix . He wasn't counted in any predictions, but he got between the McLarens and Ferraris in another stroke of genius.

On such days, the Dutchman puts on the feathers that distinguish him among the greatest in the history of Formula 1. In his specific circumstances, Alonso also left his mark with that magnificent first lap of Q1 as a reference until Q3 (he will start seventh), with an ease unknown in 2025. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz rose from Q1, scratching tenths in each block until he stayed in Q2 by just 0.35 thousandths.

Both Alonso and Sainz have taken leading positions to aim for points in the British Grand Prix, which is uncertain due to both the weather and the strategy. Rain is expected before and possibly during the race... and there may be doubts about one or two pit stops.

The ambushed sniper

Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, and Leclerc alternated between each other and the other until the final minute of Q3… Although a sniper was waiting in the wings. They closed the final lap, each with their own mistake. Although no one expected the sneaky shot. Purple in the first sector, in the second… When you remembered the shopping cart Verstappen was driving on Friday, such a result was unimaginable.

Is this an extraordinary team capable of turning over the guts of a car overnight? Indeed, Red Bull has proven it countless times. And Verstappen finishes by smoothing over the rough edges. Once again. "We opted for lower downforce and, naturally, we were faster on the straights . In the corners, it was a little more difficult," Verstappen explained at the end.

Where he brought his talent to bear, on the razor's edge . "The interesting thing is that Ferrari is incredibly fast in the corners, but slower on the straights. McLaren is average, and we are incredibly fast on the straights, but slow in the corners. I expect an exciting race between many teams." Will the sniper fire again under the checkered flag?

What's that Aston doing in there?

At Silverstone 2022 , an Alpine took first place in Q1 on a wet track. The crowd began to applaud this meddler. He found the track limits at lightning speed. Exactly the same as this year in Q1, now with an Aston Martin. Just like then, he finished seventh on the grid, the same position for this Sunday (albeit taking advantage of penalties).

Fernando Alonso set a lap in Q1 that provisionally placed him third, just over a tenth off the lead. What was that Aston doing there? He hadn't even tried the soft tire all weekend. And he didn't drop from that benchmark for the rest of the session. Q2, more of the same. It was reminiscent of those early days with Aston Martin...

"I already found the limit of the car in the first round of Q1, I already put it there, third or fourth, and the truth is that it took me another four sets of tires after that time and I only improved a tenth. I always stay there. It's as if I had already reached 100% of the car from here, I stayed there the whole session," explained the Asturian, after "having had a bit of a strange weekend of not finding performance, and also in free practice 3 this morning, not being able to put on the soft tires at the end with the red flag."

The "first corner bowling" is already running

And what about the developments introduced at Silverstone? No clear conclusions yet, the Asturian explained, but with optimism judging by his analysis . "On the positive side, every time you introduce improvements, it always seems to take two or three races to understand them, to get the heights right. Some need another type of suspension, softer at the front, softer at the rear. It depends on how it performs. So, it's good if at least it's the same or better in the first race."

Heading into the Grand Prix, the long runs were magnificent for Aston Martin. Alonso seemed to be hiding his cards close to his chest, perhaps more solid than he let on . "We're starting seventh tomorrow on a circuit that says a lot about the cars, because aerodynamics is Silverstone's strong point , so I'm happy to be in Q3. It's important because to continue here there's a lot of turbulence with the cars in front of you, although you can overtake during the race, so it's important to be as high up as possible."

If tire degradation is contained, as in Austria, Silverstone looks like one of the best options of the season to score points. "I hope that, like in Austria, some of the front runners will play bowling at the first corner... I'm starting seventh, but we have Antonelli behind us. He's faster with us. The Williams team has done purple sectors, even in the first sector, all weekend , and they have a very strong car, so we'll see. But anyway, hopefully I can be in the top ten, which is the goal now."

"It is what it is"

For his part, Carlos Sainz was left holding on to his neck as the sessions progressed. The Madrid native was pushing his FW47 further than it seemed capable of in Q1, although he was eliminated from Q3 by just 0.35 seconds. Almost always behind Albon, he overtook him for the first time since Imola. "It's true that when I set up all the qualifying maps and everything the way I wanted, I did good laps, and things didn't go as... It's not that there was more pace in the car than there was."

The British weekend confirms Williams's involution at this stage of the season. This is due to reliability, and because rivals have introduced improvements unlike the British team. Aston Martin and Haas are good examples. "In the end, we also dedicated a large part of the weekend to trying to improve our reliability issues, which you've already seen we're having quite a few of," he said.

"We've also dedicated it, and I personally, to testing some things in the setup to see if they give me any clues about finding something that might give the car an extra tenth of a second in qualifying, which is where we've been failing the most lately. In the end, it certainly wasn't the best approach to qualifying, the best in the world," he noted.

"He who warns is not a traitor"

"For the race, we started tenth (ninth, actually). We have to try to finish ninth, eighth, which would be ideal. Up until this weekend, Fernando has been going very fast, so I see it as more complicated, but I'm not ruling anything out. I think tomorrow we'll try to get as many points as possible. Our car and I usually always go a little bit better in the race than in qualifying on the soft tires, so there's still hope that we can move forward."

Sainz looked at the times and the top finishers and felt conflicting feelings about the past . "I've been going very well and very fast in recent years. I won at Silverstone two or three years ago, so I miss being in that battle for pole , and it annoys me to be fighting for eleventh today," he declared at the finish.

Then, the present. "It's true that we warned from the beginning of the season that this was what could happen, that we weren't going to touch this year's car practically because we're putting everything on the table for next year's car, which is where I truly hope and believe Williams can take the big step forward. So, forewarned is forearmed, as they say. We're slowly going backwards . Some improvement is coming, but that's what we expected."