Lewis Hamilton said his British Grand Prix Sprint pole came as an “amazing surprise” but now believes his Ferrari is quick enough to claim victory at Silverstone in Saturday’s shortened race.

The seven-time world champion had been highly pessimistic about his chances at his home race on Thursday, but answered his doubters by topping practice before edging Mercedes’ championship leader Kimi Antonelli to pole by just 0.011 seconds.

Hamilton claimed his first Grand Prix victory for Ferrari in Barcelona last month, but it was followed by a disappointing weekend in Austria, where the Italian team’s upgraded engine – introduced after concerns it lacked the power of Mercedes’ and Red Bull’s – struggled in the hot conditions.

Hamilton said: “We’re ahead of a Mercedes and the Red Bull, they have so much power these guys.”

“They’ve been doing amazing all year, the boys in blue [Mercedes] this weekend, these champs, but my team won’t let up, they’ll keep pushing, and that’s what I’m so proud of.

“It won’t always be like this, but we didn’t expect coming to Silverstone that we’d be competing for the front row, we really, really didn’t, so, this is an amazing surprise. I’m ecstatic.”

After pulling off the upset in a session where he and Antonelli appeared to be in a league of their own, Hamilton expressed belief that he might be able to keep the Italian, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third, behind him during the 17-lap contest.

Due to there being only one practice session on Sprint weekends, drivers have limited opportunity to simulate longer race runs, but Hamilton was pleased with his experience.

“I think our pace was good,” he added. “We did a short sort of longish run in practice. There wasn’t a lot of time.

“But the car felt good there, so I think we should have a good race tomorrow.

“I mean, starting from the front row, I don’t remember the last time I started from the front row here.

“Not so easy when you’ve got these guys that can follow you and be close with the extra power potentially, but I’ll do my best to keep them behind.”

Antonelli: Lewis is in form, but we like the challenge!

Antonelli, who leads the Drivers’ Championship by 40 points from his team-mate George Russell, was on provisional pole before being edged out by Hamilton.

“It was so, so close, and it was a shame,” Antonelli said.

“SQ1 I felt a bit bad, I didn’t feel great in the car, but then we made a slight balance adjustment and SQ2 felt night and day, and we suddenly were back on the pace.

“SQ3 there was a little bit left on the table, but it was a decent lap, and unfortunately super close to Lewis.

“But congrats to him, and on our side, we’ll focus on tomorrow now.”

Hamilton is third in the standings, 46 points back from Antonelli, and the Italian is welcoming the challenge of the driver he replaced at Mercedes at the start of 2025.

He added: “Ferrari have done an incredible step forward, so definitely it’s going to be very tough. Plus, Lewis is in great form, but that’s good, we like the challenge and we’ll try to make the best out of it.

“Of course [I can fight for the win tomorrow], we’ll go for it and we’ll try to do our best. It’s not going to be easy, but everything is on the table to do well.”

Verstappen: Hamilton and Antonelli look a bit quick

Verstappen came out on top of an extremely close battle for third, which saw four drivers – Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri – finish within a tenth of a second of him.

The Dutchman was 0.321s behind Hamilton’s leading effort, but just 0.075 clear of McLaren’s Piastri in seventh.

For that reason, he was able to view the session positively but was also not overly optimistic about his chances of challenging the top two on Saturday.

Verstappen said: “It was very close, I could easily have been P3 or P6 or P7, but we were on the good side.

“We were a bit closer but we’re still not where we want to be. Cornering, maybe a tiny bit, but also deployment stuff, so a few things to figure out to try to find more lap time. We’ll try to do that of course after the Sprint.

“They [Hamilton and Antonelli] look a bit quick. And if they look quick, normally their team-mates should also be quick in race pace when everything calms down a little bit.

“So, for me, I think it will be more of a battle with the guys behind me.”

Sky Sports F1’s British GP schedule

Saturday July 4
9.30am: F3 Sprint*
11am: British GP Sprint build-up*
12pm: BRITISH GP SPRINT*
1.40pm: F2 Sprint*
2.50pm: British GP Qualifying build-up*
4pm: BRITISH GP QUALIFYING*
6pm: F1 Academy Race 1
6.45pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday July 5
8.20am: F3 Feature Race*
9.55am: F1 Academy Race 2*
11.10am: F2 Feature Race*
12.55pm: Grand Prix Sunday: British GP build-up*
3pm: THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX*
5pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction
6pm: Ted’s Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 is in Silverstone for a Sprint weekend at the British Grand Prix – live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky One – with Sunday’s race at 3pm. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime