Carlos Sainz earned the first pole position of his Formula One career in rainy qualifying for the British GP.

Max Verstappen will join the Spaniard on the front row after escaping unharmed from a spin in Q3 when rain was falling heavily in the decisive segment.

Charles Leclerc, who also spun late in the session, finished third, followed by Sergio Perez.

Nicholas Latifi and Zhou Guanyu will start in the top 10 after making great laps in Q2.

The day started dry, but rain fell heavily just three minutes before the scheduled start of qualifying.

Verstappen and Leclerc traded fastest laps throughout Q1, with Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris not far behind.

George Russell lifted the Silverstone crowd when he took the lead midway through the segment, but his time was soon beaten by Verstappen.

It was a difficult Q1 for Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon, who lacked pace in the wet and ended their entries.

In Q2, Verstappen and Perez set the pace at first while the rest of the pack struggled to keep up with the Red Bulls.

Norris continued to do well, while his teammate Daniel Ricciardo struggled and failed to advance to Q3.

The rain intensified in the final minutes and prevented the drivers from improving the times set at the beginning.

As a result, Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, Ricciardo, and Esteban Ocon were eliminated, while Latifi advanced to Q3 for the first time in his career.

The drivers decided to continue with intermediate tires in Q3, and as the rain let up for a few moments, the cars lined up in the pitlane waiting for the green light.

Verstappen was coming strong on his first lap, but lost control of his car at Stowe and spun. However, his second lap was clean and left him only behind Leclerc.

The Dutchman continued to gain pace despite the return of the rain, but could not prevent his former Toro Rosso teammate from taking pole.

Hamilton will start fifth, followed by Fernando Alonso, Norris, Russell, Zhou and Latifi.

Check out the grid:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:40.190	1:41.602	1:40.983	26
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull RBPT	1:39.129	1:40.655	1:41.055	24
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:39.846	1:41.247	1:41.298	26
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull RBPT	1:40.521	1:42.513	1:41.616	26
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:40.428	1:41.062	1:41.995	23
6	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	1:41.515	1:41.821	1:42.084	26
7	Fernando Alonso	Alpine Renault	1:41.598	1:42.209	1:42.116	23
8	George Russell	Mercedes	1:40.028	1:41.725	1:42.161	23
9	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	1:40.791	1:42.640	1:42.719	28
10	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Mercedes	1:41.998	1:43.273	2:03.095	24
11	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri RBPT	1:41.680	1:43.702		19
12	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	1:41.396	1:44.232		20
13	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri RBPT	1:41.893	1:44.311		19
14	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren Mercedes	1:41.933	1:44.355		18
15	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault	1:41.730	1:45.190		17
16	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	1:42.078			11
17	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:42.159			11
18	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Mercedes	1:42.666			9
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas Ferrari	1:42.708			11
20	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Mercedes	1:43.430			10