Max Verstappen took his 27th F1 pole position, his seventh this year, at Silverstone F1 qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

Even if that looked very predictable based on Saturday's performance, the way it was achieved and the source of the threat to the Dutchman's position was certainly surprising.

The Red Bull driver had to push hard all the way to the very end to get ahead of Land Norris' McLaren, the Englishman delivering a great performance to claim second place ahead of his team-mate Oscar Piastri, third. Both McLaren drivers are driving with updates to their MCL60's.

"It's great to see two McLarens up towards the top of the qualifying standings here at Silverstone. P2 and P3 has been achieved in tricky conditions today: the team had to be switched-on to get us through the first two sessions," said Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal.

"We could then capitalise on that with strong laps from Lando and Oscar in Q3. A big positive is that we could confirm the progress we saw in Austria and the further upgrades we brought here. For that, I have to thank everyone at the factory and here trackside for their hard work, commitment and dedication" added Stella.

Rookie driver and Australian native, Piastri, put in his best qualifying effort of his F1 career.

"It's a massive result for the team and the hard work that's gone into bringing upgrades to the car. To have both of us up here is a mega result. Now we've just got to try and stay there for tomorrow," said Piastri.

Verstappen's Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, failed to make it out of Q1. His fifth non-Q2 appearance in a row.

"It was another great performance from Max, his 5th pole in a row. Conversely, another tough quali for [Perez] but remaining confident for a good run tomorrow with plenty to race for," said Christian Horner, Red Bull Team Principal.

The Ferrari SF-23's of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top five, respectively.

"For our part, it was a bit so-so, even if we are in front of our direct competitors. But there was room to do better as Charles made a slight mistake in turn 15 which affected his lap time," said Ferrari Team Principal, Frederic Vasseur.

The Ferrari's were followed by Mercedes Racing's Silver Arrows of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton who qualified at P6 and P7 respectively.

"It was an interesting session today, with the gap between P2 and P7 only a few tenths," said Toto Wolff, Mercedes Team Principal. "We were more competitive than we thought we might be in terms of lap time, and the gap to the front-row is small. That is not an excuse though and P6 and P7 are the positions we are in."

"The question for us now is how much pace differential you need in order to overtake. There are several cars ahead of us but we're hopeful we can make some good progress," said Wolff.

Williams Racing, who were very fast in Friday's practice session, had their driver, Alex Albon, qualify 8th.

"It's been an amazing weekend but it's funny when you finish in Q3, with P8 and you're disappointed," said Albon. "We have to be realistic but it's been great so far."

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonzo qualified ninth with Alpine's Pierre Gasly rounding out the top 10.

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:26.720	151.962 mph
2	Norris		McLaren		1:26.961	0.241
3	Piastri		McLaren		1:27.092	0.372
4	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:27.136	0.416
5	Sainz		Ferrari		1:27.148	0.428
6	Russell		Mercedes	1:27.155	0.435
7	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:27.211	0.491
8	Albon		Williams	1:27.530	0.810
9	Alonso		Aston Martin	1:27.659	0.939
10	Gasly		Alpine		1:27.689	0.969
11	Hulkenberg	Haas		1:28.896	
12	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:28.935	
13	Ocon		Alpine		1:28.956	
14	Sargeant	Williams	1:29.031	
15	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	No Time	
16	Perez		Red Bull	1:29.968	
17	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:30.025	
18	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:30.123	
19	de Vries	AlphaTauri	1:30.513	
20	Magnussen	Haas		1:32.378

(image provided by  Alpine F1 Media)