Following a series of highly promising free practice sessions at the Silverstone Circuit, expectations within the Scuderia Ferrari team were extremely high heading into the qualifying session. The SF-25 had shown from the outset an ability to combine strong performance in both low-speed and high-speed sections of the track—something that had previously been lacking. For the first time in the 2025 Formula 1 season, Ferrari appeared to be genuinely in contention for pole position.
Up until Q2, that belief remained solid, with both Scuderia Ferrari drivers consistently at the top of the time sheets. However, when it mattered most during the final and decisive phase of Q3, the outcome was quite different. Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton had to settle for places on the third row of the grid. This naturally raises the question: did Ferrari actually have the performance necessary to secure pole position, or were the strong early weekend showings simply misleading? To answer this, we turn to a detailed telemetry analysis, comparing the final flying laps of the Ferrari drivers with that of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, who secured pole position for the British Grand Prix.
First sector: Red Bull gains on the straights, Ferrari claws back in the corners
In the opening sector of the Silverstone circuit, Max Verstappen immediately gained the upper hand. Red Bull Racing’s choice to adopt a lower-downforce aerodynamic setup gave the RB21 higher straight-line speed—reaching 5 kilometers per hour more than the Ferrari SF-25. This resulted in a gain of approximately two tenths of a second for Verstappen by the time the drivers reached Turn 3.
In the slower section that followed, however, the situation shifted. The Ferrari drivers were able to regain the gap by carrying around 15 kilometers per hour more speed into the corners. Still, a small mistake by Charles Leclerc on corner exit forced him to delay getting back on the throttle, which cost him roughly one-tenth of a second compared to teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen continued to gain valuable hundredths of a second on the subsequent straights, interrupted by the medium-speed support corners of Turns 6 and 7. While Ferrari’s higher downforce helped in these corners, Max Verstappen’s excellent car control and driving minimized the deficit to just half a tenth.
At Copse Corner, both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton lifted slightly—around 10 percent—while Charles Leclerc took it flat out. Even so, in the straights both before and after Copse, Verstappen’s top speed advantage once again proved decisive, allowing him to gain over two tenths of a second. However, a notable difference was recorded at the entrance to the high-speed Becketts section, where the reigning World Champion had to ease off the accelerator much more significantly than the Ferrari drivers.
Third sector: Ferrari shines in cornering, but errors prove costly
In the fast Stowe corner, Ferrari’s higher downforce once again worked in its favor. Charles Leclerc handled the section particularly well, achieving the highest minimum speed among the top drivers. As the lap entered the final sector, both Ferrari drivers managed to gain about one-tenth of a second thanks to superior braking and corner entry speed.
Unfortunately, both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc made visible errors on corner exit—likely a consequence of having to run a stiffer suspension setup. These mistakes cost Hamilton 0.130 seconds and Leclerc 0.085 seconds.
Was pole really within reach for Ferrari?
Despite the less-than-ideal qualifying conditions, it seems clear that pole position was indeed within Ferrari’s grasp—providing either driver had managed to complete a flawless lap. The SF-25 demonstrated its strong potential throughout the weekend and particularly during the free practice sessions. However, unlike Max Verstappen, who maximized the performance of his car with surgical precision, both Ferrari drivers left precious lap time on the table at several key moments of their final attempts.
In this light, avoiding only the final error in the last sector would not have been sufficient on its own. Even so, the lower-downforce aerodynamic configuration chosen by Red Bull Racing proved to be a crucial factor in securing pole position. That same configuration, however, might become a liability during the race—especially if weather conditions turn wet or grip levels decrease.
Moreover, telemetry data compared with Oscar Piastri’s final lap shows that, at the time of the mistake in Turn 17—highlighted by an arrow in the trace—both Ferrari drivers were approximately two-tenths of a second ahead of the provisional second place. This suggests that, had they avoided the final sector error, Scuderia Ferrari would have likely secured second and third positions on the starting grid for the British Grand Prix.
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