The British Grand Prix is back, Max Verstappen scores pole position but can a hometown hero take a step of the podium alongside?

May 13^th, 1950 was the date of the first Formula one race and it was held at the infamous Silverstone Circuit. The same circuit that we will see 20 cars race on Sunday. Emilio ‘Nino’ Farina dominated the time boards with Alpha Romeo back then, so will we see another Italian driver in Antonelli take the top step of the podium with Mercedes? Qualifying in 10^th position, this is unlikely.

It was Max Verstappen who surprised the crowd with a dominant lap in the final seconds of Qualifying securing himself to start at the front for the race. Behind him is Oscar Piastri and three British drivers in Lando Norris, George Russel and Lewis Hamilton who will all be hungry for a step on the podium at their home race.

Lando Norris will be itching for this win which would lead him closer to be at the top of the drivers championship board, especially with such a dominant car. But we can’t rule out Lewis Hamilton who holds a record of nine wins around this circuit and took the winning trophy home with him last year. George Russel failed to score a win last year to his then teammate but he did set the fastest lap and get pole position. He will be starting in fourth position, in the second row, and has shown strength in the Mercedes, so anything is possible from the start.

With Max Verstappen in pole position though and Oscar Piastri just behind him, the fight at the front will be an exciting one. Oscar lost out to pole position by just 0.103 seconds but McLaren have a car that is dominant whereas Red Bull’s is more unpredictable. This weekend however, Piastri expressed some concern that he wasn’t able to improve his lap time in the final qualifying lap, “the first lap was mega to be honest… I was trying to think how I was going to go faster and I didn’t” he said post qualifying. Verstappen expressed excitement for the race saying that Silverstone is a “proper race track”. He added that “we’re quite quick on the straights, which is not that easy to manage in the high speed corners. We’ll have to wait and see how that plays out in the race, if it rains or not”

 Rain is predicted for the race which always adds excitement to the order. Silverstone is a very high speed track, offering fans fantastic racing. With so many storyilnes and factors at play, this is a race for anyone to win.