Sebastian Vettel will start the 2021 British Grand Prix from eighth after a battling performance in the first-ever Formula One Sprint as team-mate Lance Stroll progressed to earn 14th on the grid.
Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team gained a net three places from Friday's qualifying ahead of tomorrow's race following an experimental 17-lap sprint.
The day began with second practice, although the cars remained under Parc Ferme conditions, preventing wide-ranging alterations. As a result, practice was completed with a focus on the Grand Prix.
Sebastian and Lance completed the session on the Medium and Hard tyres, focusing largely on simulating race conditions.
As a result of the format, both drivers will have free tyre choice for Sunday's Grand Prix, and they opted for the Used Medium tyre for the Sprint.
Sebastian
Sebastian kept his wits about him starting from 10th on the grid as the midfield converged through the opening corners.
He had to be alert at the end of the Wellington Straight when George Russell and Carlos Sainz Jr tangled, clearing the pair to go ninth.
British Grand Prix
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Sebastian then began to hunt down the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo and the Alpine of Fernando Alonso, who had opted for the off-strategy choice of the Soft tyre.
At half-distance, Sergio Perez spun on the exit of Chapel, which elevated Sebastian into eighth as he continued his pursuit of Alonso.
Alonso's soft tyre began to fade under pressure from Sebastian as he remained well within DRS range of the car ahead.
With one eye on solidifying eighth on the grid for tomorrow, Sebastian ran out of laps to pass Alonso, despite pressuring him to within several tenths at the finish.
"I have enjoyed this unusual weekend format so far. It was interesting to have the intense moment yesterday evening followed by the Sprint today, which can go either way.
"For us, it went well and we gained some places for the race tomorrow, and some others lost ground. Fernando [Alonso] made up a lot of places on lap one, starting on the Soft tyres, and I thought he would struggle more in the final laps.
"I was close behind him, but could not make the move to overtake. This result puts us in a decent starting position for tomorrow [P8], which will be a very different race with the strategy options."
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Lance
Lance was able to make a decent start to move up to 14th as a result of the midfield clash between Russell and Sainz.
He spent the early phases of the race attempting to keep the recovering Ferrari behind him.
But the compacted midfield made it difficult to make further progress, and Lance secured 14th for tomorrow's race.
"It was good to make up a little bit of ground in the Sprint, but I think we are still searching for the optimal car balance.
"It was challenging to make up any further places as the midfield bunched up and we ended up in a long train of cars. The positive is that the short race gives us more relevant data to go over and look to find the improvements we need.
"It is a long race tomorrow; anything can happen, plus the heat will be a factor, as well as the free choice of tyres, so I am looking forward to coming back stronger tomorrow."
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