Home favorite Lewis Hamilton has stormed to pole position for the British Grand Prix after setting the fastest lap in the dying moments of qualifying, edging out teammate Nico Rosberg and the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
Hamilton, who won the race in 2008, set a lap of 1:29.607, and was the only driver to dip below the 1:30 mark as he took pole by 0.452 seconds despite the best efforts of his teammate and the Red Bulls, whilst Ferrari struggled to P10 and P12 on the grid.
The first qualifying session got underway as Silverstone bathed in bright sunshine, but this serenity was soon broken as Nico Hulkenberg became the first driver to set a flying lap of 1:35.806, although he quickly fell behind his teammate and the two Lotuses. Most of the cars opted to go out on hard tires, but Marussia looked to optimize their grid position by running on mediums early on as per usual. Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas put in good lap times early on, hoping that it would be enough to make it through, but Mercedes soon rose to the top of the timesheets on the medium tire; Hamilton’s lap was met with cheers from the British fans. Red Bull left it late to release their drivers, but they did enough to make it through with ease unlike Ferrari. Felipe Massa required a last-gasp lap to make it through by the skin of his teeth, whilst Fernando Alonso remained in the pits as Ferrari believed he had set a quick enough lap, only for him to scrape through in P15. The battle to beat the drop ensued between Esteban Gutierrez and the two Williams drivers, but the Sauber came unstuck and ended up P18. Bottas did enough to sit just outside the dropzone only for Maldonado to relegate him one place. Giedo van der Garde managed to finish 21st with just one flying lap, with teammate Charles Pic winning the battle at the back to qualifying 19th.
Mark Webber bucked the trend for Q2 and was first out on track, setting a respectable time on the hard compound tire which was soon beaten by both Mercedes on the white-ringed medium tire. Fernando Alonso got close to Webber’s time, as did Adrian Sutil, but it wasn’t until Sebastian Vettel posted his first lap time that the Mercedes dominance was broken, shooting up to P1. McLaren and Ferrari appeared to be struggling, with Massa, Perez and Button sitting the dropzone as the final runs began. Daniel Ricciardo and Paul di Resta both put in impressive times to secure a place in Q3, whilst Webber also put himself in the frame to vie for pole by finishing P2. Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen scraped through in 9th and 10th, as did Alonso in P8, but Massa could only finish 12th come the checkered flag, joining both McLarens, Vergne, Hulkenberg and Maldonado on the sidelines ahead of Q3.
Once again, it was Webber who was first out in Q3 along with compatriot Daniel Ricciardo. The Red Bull driver managed to open up a one second gap over his potential replacement, and Fernando Alonso slotted between the two as Ferrari opted to run their one remaining driver with hard tires to begin with. Mercedes once again exercised their superb one-lap pace to go P1 and P2; Hamilton leading Rosberg with Webber and Vettel just behind. For the final runs, all ten cars went out on the medium compound tire in pursuit of the best possible lap, but once again it was Mercedes who led the way. Webber could only go P2 with his final effort, but Rosberg managed to squeeze out his teammate to take provisional pole. However, Hamilton had other ideas, storming to pole position by 0.452 – a very sizeable gap – ahead of Rosberg, Vettel and Webber. Championship contenders Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso could only manage P9 and P10 respectively.
For Hamilton, this is an important pole in front of his home fans, with the Silverstone crowd also delighted to see Paul di Resta finish an excellent 5th ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Adrian Sutil. Now remains the question of whether or not Mercedes can carry this form over into the race tomorrow.
