George Russell claimed pole position for the 2024 British Grand Prix, leading a Mercedes 1-2 at Silverstone as Lando Norris aborted his final Q3 lap and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was hobbled by floor damage.

Mercedes has looked quick whenever cool and damp conditions have prevailed at Silverstone and was properly competitive throughout the three segments of qualifying, which was held on a damp but drying circuit.

It was dry enough for slicks from the second runs of Q1 and so the lap times improved dramatically from session to session, and it was Norris’s McLaren that looked the favourite for pole heading into Q3 - especially after Verstappen went off in Q1 and picked up floor damage.

Norris went two tenths clear in Q2 and held provisional pole after his first run in Q3, before Russell’s Mercedes squeaked ahead by just 0.006 seconds.

Lewis Hamilton, fastest in the wetter conditions of Q1, briefly went to the top on the second runs in Q3, before Russell’s second effort eclipsed Hamilton's own.

Silverstone salutes King George