British Grand Prix sees late change as F1 stewards hand out fresh Silverstone penalty

There was a late change to the starting grid ahead of the British Grand Prix. That was caused by one team deciding to make changes to the engine of one of their cars, which meant it would not be allowed on the grid and must instead start the Silverstone race from the pit lane.

A thrilling qualifying session saw Max Verstappen deny the British home heroes pole position at their home event. And Oscar Piastri also got the better of them, meaning the best that the Brits could do was the second row which was taken by Lando Norris in third ahead of George Russell.

Lewis Hamilton was on track for a shot at pole until a mistake at the final corner cost him and meant he will start the race fifth, one place ahead of Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari. All that came after a dramatic Q1 which was stopped for a time after a crash.

Franco Colapinto lost control of his Alpine at that final corner of the Silverstone circuit and slipped off track and into the gravel. Not a great deal of damage was done to his car, but it was beached in the gravel and so qualifying was red-flagged so it could be recovered.

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But that was the end of the Argentine's afternoon and meant he was 20th and dead last on the timesheets. But instead of lining up at the back of the grid, he would instead start from the pit lane on Sunday after Alpine opted to give him some new engine parts.

That is the standard punishment for making such changes to the car after qualifying, when parc ferme restrictions are in force. It means there were only 19 cars set to start on the grid, though it was certainly not the only penalty which affected the outcome of qualifying.

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Oliver Bearman produced one of the best qualifying performances of his short F1 career to date, putting his Haas eighth on the grid. Except he was bumped all the way back down to 18th when his whopping 10-place grid penalty, earned for speeding up and crashing under red flags in final practice earlier that day, was applied.

And Kimi Antonelli was also dropped down to 10th on the grid from his initial qualifying position of seventh, because of the three-place penalty he was given a week ago in Austria for crashing into Verstappen on the first lap of that race at the Red Bull Ring.

Colapinto has yet to score a point since being elevated into a race seat by Alpine, replacing Jack Doohan after the Miami Grand Prix in early May. He was initially given five races to prove himself but that period has been extended, with this weekend's Silverstone event the sixth race he has driven in.

Alpine boss Flavio Briatore has indicated he will stick with the Argentine for now but will want to see points being scored. Alpine are known to have been in discussions with other drivers of late, including Valtteri Bottas who is a reserve at Mercedes this year having lost his previous race seat at Sauber.