Lewis Hamilton has snatched pole position for the British Grand Prix with a sensation qualifying session at Silverstone, as Mercedes dominated the front row yet again.
Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg pipped the Red Bull’s in second, as championship leader Sebastian Vettel had no answer to Hamilton’s stunning final lap time of 1:29:607.
Mark Webber,
who earlier this week announced he would be leaving Formula One at the end of the season, looked to have out-qualified his team-mate for the first time this season, but Vettel snatched third at the final attempt.British driver Paul Di Resta guided his Force India to fifth, just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso, who will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix in sixth.
Hamilton led the way midway through Q3, setting the pace with a 1:30:096, with Mercedes team-mate Rosberg just two-hundredths of a second behind.
And despite a late push from the German which briefly took him fastest, Hamilton responded perfectly to take pole.
It wasn’t such good news for championship contenders Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, however, with the pair qualifying down in 10th and ninth respectively.
Meanwhile, McLaren’s season continued on its downward spiral as neither of the team’s cars made the top 10.
Jenson Button narrowly missed the cut in 11th place at his home Grand Prix, while team-mate Sergio Perez will start tomorrow’s race in 13th.
There was another big-name casualty at the end of Q2, with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa only managing a 1:31:779 to split the McLarens.
