Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton produced a superlative performance in front of his home crowd to take pole position at the Silverstone circuit for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
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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.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will start third ahead of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
The defending three-time world champion dominated the session while the German, who holds an 11 points lead over him in this year’s title race, was left on the sidelines as his vehicle was dismantled for repairs in the team garage.
The pair have been read the “riot act” by Mercedes management, and both Rosberg and Hamilton know what they need to do – and not do – on Sunday.
Kimi Raikkonen, who was re-signed for 2017 on Thursday evening, and Sebastian Vettel qualified fifth and sixth, but Vettel will start 11th because his gearbox failed in final practice – which resulted in his second five-place grid penalty for an illegal gearbox change in as many races.
The session was halted to retrieve debris and fix barriers after Marcus Ericsson crashed his Sauber heavily at the exit to Stowe with 20 minutes remaining.
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 nearly competitive (Button starts in 17th).
“They’ve given us an incredible vehicle out there today”, he said. It was a lot of pressure.
“I will try not to be in that position again”, said Hamilton, while Rosberg told reporters the rules were now “very clear”.
His team-mate Jenson Button, who has not been on Alonso’s pace all weekend, was eliminated in first qualifying.
For a brief moment it appeared as though matters would worsen for Rosberg after he was summoned to the stewards for an alleged safety vehicle line breach in qualifying. It is what you hired me to do, what I have grown to be.’ Like Ayrton [Senna] said: ‘If you are not going for a gap, you are no longer a racing driver’.
Not specifying what the deterrents are, team-imposed penalties for non-compliance to any team orders could conceivably range from hefty fines to reduction in seat time during team practice sessions. FIA race director Charlie Whiting sent the teams a note on Friday stating that the permitted maximum time was one minute and 45 seconds.
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Mercedes said in a press release, “in the last five races, there have been three incidents that have cost us over 50 points in the championship”.
