Lewis Hamilton secured a dominant pole position for the British Grand Prix, beating team-mate Nico Rosberg by more than three-tenths to start his home race from the top spot.
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The Ferrari’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel finished fifth and sixth fastest in Q3, but Vettel will start from 11th after copping a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
The triple Formula One world champion, bidding for a third successive Silverstone victory and the fourth of his career, had his first quick lap of the final session deleted after he exceeded the track limits.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest for Red Bull but more than half a second off Hamilton’s pace.
Hamilton set a new track record in Q2 and looked to have taken provisional pole with his first run in Q3, only to see the lap time deleted for evading track limits at Copse.
“I feel like I have been under pressure my whole life, and I just feel comfortable in that scenario”, a jubilant Hamilton said.
Hamilton won in Austria, with Rosberg fourth after leading into the last lap.
However, he escaped punishment when the stewards, following their investigation, deemed that the German was not on an in lap when the time between the safety vehicle lines was set. “The second lap wasn’t as good but I was obviously making sure I was cautious, making sure I got that lap in”.
“Luckily I was as close as I could be on the (last) lap”. The FIA race director Charlie Whiting sent the teams a note on Friday stating the permitted maximum time was 1 minute, 45 seconds.
“I didn’t think there was anything that needed to be cleared up”, Hamilton added. Not too long ago I was swimming in the pool downstairs and Nico came down and we had a chat.
A win on Sunday wil l also place Hamilton equal second with the darling of the British fans, Nigel Mansell, with four wins overall.
After a week of accusation and recrimination – and the threat of draconian punishment – the main business, though, is erasing that 11-point lead in the title standings held by Rosberg.
Asked whether he felt that the Mercedes rules of engagement were now clear to both drivers, Rosberg responded succinctly: “Very clear”. We get in a room, and even if we don’t like it we say what our issue is and we deal with it. “We are strong compared to the cars behind us, but it seems like the Mercedes has a turbo button”.
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Seventh place on the grid went to Bottas in the Williams, eighth to Sainz in the Toro Rosso, ninth to Hulkenburg in the Force India and tenth to Fernando Alonso whose McLaren’s turn it is to pretend to be almost competitive (Button starts in 17th).
