‘I can’t express how big a dream it is’ – Hamilton reacts after securing Silverstone Sprint pole as he assesses competition

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that racing at his home circuit still feels like “a dream”, after the Ferrari driver secured pole position for the Silverstone Sprint by narrowly beating Kimi Antonelli.

The Briton had already showcased his strong pace, having topped the times in the weekend’s sole practice session, and he continued to be in the mix throughout Sprint Qualifying.

In spite of Antonelli’s consistently rapid laps, Hamilton topped every segment of the session and resisted the pressure of the one-lap shootout in SQ3 to post a time of 1m 28.376s, just 0.011s clear of the Italian’s final effort.

Reflecting on his feelings soon after, he said: “I love this place, I love this crowd, and I can’t express to you how big a dream it is, still to this day, when you’re building up to this race and you think about every corner and kind of the flow that you can get into at this track if you get the set-up right and if you’ve got the right team behind you.

“The car’s felt really great today, thanks to everyone back at the factory, just continuing to push. We brought tiny little bits here – every single weekend we’re showing up with something, and everyone’s pushed to the max, so I’m really grateful to get that pole.

“I was quick through all the session, but still it was only 10 milliseconds or something like that, so it’s very close to these guys and the team really deserves it. A big, big thank you to everyone here.”

Hamilton already has a remarkable record at the British Grand Prix with nine victories to his name, but he revealed that he wasn’t fully convinced about Ferrari being the fastest team at the circuit this season.

While they have taken a step forward with their recent upgrades, there were concerns that the long straights wouldn’t favour their car and they would lose out to the Silver Arrows and Red Bull when it came to engine performance.

Hamilton’s lap proved that their short-run pace is undoubtedly there, with the Briton stating that the energy of his home crowd added “at least” a couple of tenths to his final lap time.

He also conceded that it could be difficult to keep their rivals behind them over a longer distance, but he feels more than ready for the challenge.

“Look, we’re ahead of Mercedes – these guys, and the Red Bulls, they have so much power,” he said. “They’ve been doing amazing all year, the boys in blue this weekend, but my team just won’t let up.

“They keep pushing, and that’s what I’m so proud of. It won’t always be like this. 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.

“We did a short sort of longish run in FP1 – there was not a lot of time, but the car felt good there so I think we should have a good race tomorrow. 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.”