British GP: Hamilton smashes Silverstone record to claim pole

Lewis Hamilton set Silverstone ablaze as Mercedes dominated qualifying at the British Grand Prix.

The world champion recovered from a rare mistake in Q2 and was simply too strong for teammate Valtteri Bottas in the top-10 shootout, as the Brackley-based team claimed a commanding 1-2.

Q1

Bottas topped the times by a tenth over Hamilton at the front with Verstappen three-tenths back having only done one flying lap.

The battle to avoid elimination saw the two Haas’ and two Alfa Romeo’s try to displace George Russell in 15th, as the Briton tried to make Q2 for the third straight race.

Ultimately none could find enough time though, with Kevin Magnussen in 16th, 0.006s ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi.

Kimi Raikkonen was 18th in the second Alfa and Romain Grosjean 19th.

Nicholas Latifi brought up the field for Williams, but an off at Luffield on his final run may have got teammate Russell into trouble, as the stewards investigate whether the Briton failed to slow for the yellow flags.

Q2

Mercedes, Red Bull, Racing Point and Ferrari all went out on the medium tyre in an effort to avoid using the soft compound in Sunday’s race.

Bottas would use it to up the ante by setting a new track record of 1m25.0s to be over a second clear of the field.

Meanwhile, Hamilton would spin at Luffield on his first flying lap, causing a red flag after covering the track in gravel.

He would soon head back out on track though and jumped up to second with a safe lap, a third of a second behind his teammate.

The battle to make the top 10 saw Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll stick on the medium tyres while those behind all switched to softs.

For the Canadian, he breathed a major sigh of relief as Pierre Gasly matched his time in the AlphaTauri but because Stroll set it first he went through in 10th.

There was more frustration for Alex Albon in 12th for Red Bull and Nico Hulkenberg could only manage 13th on his return at Racing Point.

Daniil Kvyat was 14th as Russell rounded out the top 15 in the Williams.

Q3

The battle for pole saw Hamilton get the early edge over Bottas by a tenth-and-a-half as Mercedes were the only team in the 1m24s.

Verstappen slotted into third place for Red Bull but a massive 1.1s behind with Stroll fourth in the Racing Point.

The second runs saw potential for surprises as Lando Norris moved up to fourth and Charles Leclerc third at one stage.

But the top three would remain the same as Hamilton found another three-tenths to post a remarkable 1m24.303s, three-tenths faster than Bottas.

Verstappen couldn’t get within a second in third for Red Bull though did push Leclerc back down to fourth with Norris fifth.

Stroll was a disappointing sixth ahead of Carlos Sainz in the second McLaren.

Daniel Ricciardo had the edge over teammate Esteban Ocon as the two Renaults were eighth and ninth, as Vettel completed the top 10 for Ferrari.

Full results from qualifying can be seen below: