SILVERSTONE, England – Valtteri Bottas captured the pole for the British Grand Prix during Formula One qualifying on Saturday at the historic Silverstone Circuit.

Bottas turned a lap of 1:25.093 in the third and final knockout round to edge his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, for the top spot on the grid by .006 seconds.

Saturday marked Bottas’ 10th career F-1 pole, his fourth of the season and first at Silverstone.

“When I got the radio call that I qualified on pole, I was just really happy. I’ve been missing this feeling,” said Bottas. “It’s very difficult to beat Lewis here; he’s always very strong in Silverstone. My lap wasn’t perfect. There was still some margin left to improve, but no one got a perfect lap together, so it was enough in the end.

“I now have to make good use of the pole; Lewis’ race pace has been really strong this year, so I’m sure it’ll be a good fight tomorrow,” he added. “Charles (Leclerc) will also be a threat, especially in the beginning of the race because he’s starting on the softer tires. We are starting on the mediums, which will make the start tricky, but should be the better choice in the long run.

“I’m looking forward to the race; it should be good fun.”

Hamilton will join Bottas on the front row after his lap of 1:25.099, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was just .079 of a second adrift in the third position.

The Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly qualified fourth and fifth, respectively, ahead of the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo emerged as best of the rest outside the top three teams, seeing off the challenge of impressive British-born rookies Lando Norris and Alex Albon, who were eighth and ninth for McLaren and Toro Rosso respectively.

The second Renault of Nico Hulkenberg capped off the top 10 in qualifying.