Daniel Ricciardo is hunting his best-ever finish in a Renault when he starts from a strong fifth place on the Silverstone grid on Sunday night.
Ricciardo finished last week’s British Grand Prix in fourth – his equal-best result for Renault – but strong performances in practice and qualifying throughout this weekend has him well-placed to go one better this time around.
Watch the Emirates Formula One 70th Anniversary GP 2020 LIVE on KAYO. Every practice, qualifying session and race LIVE. New to Kayo? Get your free trial now & start streaming instantly >
“That’s a cracking time from Ricciardo,” Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle said after his effort in qualifying.
“I think it was nice, everyone was a bit surprised with P3 yesterday (in practice), and in a way there was probably a bit of pressure for the team to deliver it again,” Ricciardo said.
“I don’t think anyone expected P3 but they expected somewhere around where we are now so to do it, P5, I’m stoked.”
Valtteri Bottas beat his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to pole – his first time topping qualifying since the opening round of the season.
“At the end of the day he did a better job at the end,” Hamilton said.
“And probably also down to me just not doing a good enough job at the end. But it was relatively close, so it’s not the end of the world.”
The pole-sitter has gone on to win each of the first four Grands Prix this season, so Bottas will be relatively confident of reducing Hamilton’s 30-point world championship lead in tonight’s race – so long as there’s no repeat of last week’s blown-tyre debacle.
Nico Hulkenberg starts from an incredible P3 in his second week as replacement driver for Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who was ruled out after testing positive for coronavirus.
The 32-year-old Hulkenberg – Ricciardo’s Renault teammate last year – has drawn widespread praise for his efforts throughout the weekend despite his unfamiliarity with the car.
The German has a great chance to break one of Formula One’s most unwanted records: the most starts without finishing on the podium.
He has finished fourth three times, but never had a podium in 10 years of trying. If he fails to finish on the podium on Sunday night, it will be his 178th career start without doing so – a world above second-place Adrian Sutil who failed to podium in 128 career starts.
Hulkenberg finished just above Max Verstappen of Red Bull in P4, with Ricciardo’s P5 one above the other Racing Point of Lance Stroll.
Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari start in seventh and eighth. Rounding out the top ten on the grid are Alex Albon from Red Bull and the McLaren of Lando Norris.
LIVE BLOG
Follow the action in our live blog below. If you can’t see the blog, click here.
Subscribe to our Fox Sports newsletters
By registering you are agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Privacy Notice
Success!