Lewis Hamilton became the first Brit to put a Mercedes Silver Arrow on pole at Silverstone since Stirling Moss.
His time of 1:29.607 was four tenths faster than the rest of the field in Q3 with team mate Nico Rosberg making it a Mercedes front row lock out.
One notable change to the grid after qualifying is the demotion of Paul Di Resta to the back of the grid. His Force India was found to be 1.5KG underweight at scrutinise ring and as a result the Scotsman continues his run of bad luck in qualifying. He had put the car in fifth before this latest team error meaning everyone from sixth downwards has moved up one place.
There were no surprises in Q1 except for Valtteri Bottas failing to emulate his Canada qualifying heroics. He will start 16th ahead of the “usual suspects” Caterham and Marussia. Max Chilton had the unfortunate honour of propping up the grid but will now move up to 21st due to the demotion of Di Resta. Esteban Gutierrez in the Sauber will start one place behind the Fin in 17th.
On to Q2 and sadly the McLaren’s lack of pace struck again as both Jenson Button and Sergio Perez fell at the second hurdle starting 10th and 13th respectively, hopes of the British team scoring a podium now depend on the bad luck of others ahead of them.
On the subject of bad luck – Felipe Massa had a poor display in a Ferrari not seeming to like the Northamptonshire track – he will start 11th with team mate Fernando Alonso ninth.
Q3, as already mentioned, saw Mercedes lock out the front row with the Red Bulls locking out the second – Sebastian Vettel claiming the team victory. One man of note who has been linked with Red Bull in recent days is Australian Daniel Ricciardo – in what must be his season best he put the Toro Rosso in sixth spot but was promoted to a staggering fifth ahead of Sutil in the Force India and both Lotus–Renaults.
The race starts at 13:00 with Lewis Hamilton hoping that the flowing Silverstone track will help him fly to victory in front of the british crowd.
