"Yep. Bottled it": Fans react to Lewis Hamilton losing out on pole position for the F1 British GP

Lewis Hamilton was regarded as one of the favorites to bag the pole position for the British GP as the Ferrari SF-25 had been on par with its rivals, and the Briton was on the charge in the prancing horse. However, a mistake at the final corner of the Silverstone Circuit saw the home hero concede a few tenths of a second, leading fans to claim that Hamilton had bottled his final qualifying run.

The 40-year-old was the fastest during the FP1 session and shocked the paddock with his amazing pace. Moreover, this impressive run of form went on to the following sessions and proved that Ferrari had a car to fight for the pole position at Hamilton's home race.

Though he had an early qualifying scare in Q1, Hamilton was seemingly on par with his rivals in the subsequent sessions. With the Briton beginning his final qualifying run and leading over the provisional pole time, many reckoned that he could finally claim a pole position with the prancing horses.

However, he flicked some grass up in the air heading into the final chicane and the Club section, leading him to lose considerable time. He then qualified P5 for his home race, after squashing such high hopes, triggering fans to take a dig at him for seemingly bottling his golden opportunity.

"Yep. Bottled it."

King.Khari

@OutsizedAlpha

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Yep. Bottled it

"Only racepacemilton can save us tommorow given the car has good race pace 🙏🏼🥲," one fan wrote.

"Sir lewis crymilton ladies and gentlemen," another fan wrote.

Here are a few more reactions:

"Lewis messed up in the last few corners 🥲," one netizen wrote.

"Generational bottle from Lewis those last few corners. Should have been an easy front row start at very worst. 💀," another netizen wrote.

"Lewis had pole in his hands until the last 2 corners so close but ultimately couldn’t deliver like he would have done in years gone by, just chasing the speed too much and not letting it come to him there, big shame 😔," another one wrote.

Lewis Hamilton's P5 qualification makes his 2025 result the third time in the last decade that he has qualified outside the top-three at his home race.

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Lewis Hamilton's teammate Charles Leclerc had an equally bad outing during qualifying

Lewis Hamilton during qualifying for the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton's fifth-place result was just a single spot ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc. While he now retains the upper hand heading into the Grand Prix, it was far from what he was trying to achieve during the session.

Despite this, the Briton looks onto battling for the podium spots tomorrow, as he said in a post-qualifying interview:

"I think it’ll be very hard to beat the McLarens and Red Bull, but I’ll give it absolutely everything tomorrow."

On the other hand, Max Verstappen claimed the pole position for the British GP and would be paired with Oscar Piastri on the front row.