It took 151 attempts for Carlos Sainz to earn his first Formula 1 pole. Now he'll chase that elusive first win.
But starting alongside Sainz on the front row at the British Grand Prix will be defending F1 champion Max Verstappen, a year removed from the crash with Lewis Hamilton that turned their title fight into a bitter rivalry.
Daniel Ricciardo's struggles continued in the wet conditions as the Australian qualified 14th.
Verstappen was booed by some in the crowd after the action-packed qualifying session in the rain and said he could barely hear his on-track interview questions over the jeers.
"If they want to boo, they do that. For me, it's not going to change anything," he said.
Sainz set the fastest time late in the third qualifying session to edge Verstappen by just .072 seconds. It was the seventh pole in 10 races for Ferrari this season, though Sainz's teammate, Charles Leclerc, had earned the first six poles prior to Sainz's surprise run.
"First pole position, it's always special, and especially to do it in Silverstone in the wet," Sainz said.
"I kept it cool through the session and toward the end I decided to push."
Sainz narrowly missed out on what would have been his first career win two weeks ago at the Canadian Grand Prix, where he finished just behind Verstappen.
The Spanish driver has been on the podium 11 times in his career but never on the top step. He has finished second three times this season.
Leclerc will start third, ahead of Sergio Pérez in the second Red Bull.
The race is expected to be largely dry after a rainy qualifying session.
The improved conditions could favour the two Red Bulls after Verstappen set the fastest lap time of anyone this weekend in the final practice session before the rain began to fall on Silverstone.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth for his home race as Mercedes seemed to have made progress with its problems of bouncing at high speed. His teammate George Russell was eighth.
As Verstappen spoke trackside following qualifying, the boos were audible for the Dutchman and he could barely hear the questions being asked during his interview.
Hamilton was not pleased with the reaction from his home crowd toward his rival.
"I think we are better than that. I would say we don't need to do booing, but we have got such great fans and our sporting fans, they feel emotions, ups and downs, but I definitely don't agree with booing," Hamilton said.
"I don't know, maybe some of them are still feeling the pain from last year still. Either way, I don't agree."
Verstappen and Hamilton collided in last year's race, with Verstappen hitting the wall while Hamilton overcame a penalty to win.
The incident further heightened their often-bitter rivalry in a title race ultimately won by Verstappen and turned some British fans against Verstappen.
Ricciardo said the conditions played a part in his disappointing run, while his McLaren teammate Lando Norris qualified in sixth.
"I'm obviously disappointed with the result, in the end, today," he said.
"I think in hindsight I needed the lap to be put in early because the track was at its best early on but then I struggled to get the lap in when it counted.
"I think the driest lap I found, I went off. So there was a dry line there, I just caught some of the wet and lost the lap.
"For the most part, it felt like I didn't get the lap in when the conditions were at their best and that's what cost me more than anything else today. So that's on me.
"It's put us quite a bit back on the grid, so we have a lot of work to do tomorrow but we will come out swinging."
AP/ABC
