Hamilton offers alternative weekend format after losing pole position

Lewis Hamilton was elated after securing pole position for the sprint race in Friday evening qualifying. But the British driver won't start on pole position for the race after he lost out to Max Verstappen at the start of a 100km dash around Silverstone.

Verstappen got off the line better than Hamilton and the Red Bull driver led going into the first corner. The British driver wants to find answers as to where it went wrong ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix.

"I did everything I was supposed to do at the start. The team tell you the targets, tyres temperatures and clutch for example. I just had a lot of wheel spin. We'll dig deep and find out what exactly happened. After that, I was just a sitting duck, they were too quick after that," Hamilton said in front of the Sky Sports camera.

"Red Bull are solid. It's been a real struggle for us. We've done a great job to get the performance yesterday, Valtteri did a good job so we've got two cars up there. We keep fighting, we're closer. Once Verstappen is in front, it's difficult to hold onto him."

An alternative format

This weekend, Formula 1 are trying a different weekend format. This will be tested at two other Grands Prix across the 2021 schedule. 'Normal' qualifying takes place on Friday which forms the grid for sprint qualifying. This 100km dash then forms the grid for the race. Though Hamilton has another proposal, which is cut Friday altogether.

"It's been great to try something new. I don't think the race was exciting after the first lap, but there are learnings we can take from today. We should do just a long Saturday and a long Sunday, P1 P2 and qualify on a Saturday. A sprint race and a race on Sunday. Pack it all in, so much wasted time. Today has been long and yesterday we didn't do anything in the morning. Hopefully, less mileage and that reduces our emissions," Hamilton added.