Lewis Hamilton has taken a dominant Pole position in Silverstone and has beatan the two Ferraris, who have finally been closer than expected, and with Räikkönen beating Vettel. Sainz and Alonso have been eliminated in Q2.
Qualifying started in mixed conditions, which made that some drivers used intermediate tyres and others took the risky decision to put the slicks. The track was clearly wet and those drivers who had put slicks had to pit to put the stripped tyres. Rain got heavier, which was better for those driver who had set their times earlier.
Towards the middle of the session, Daniel Ricciardo‘s Red Bull stopped with mechanical issued. The Aussie left the car and the Q1 was stopped. The red flag, however, was short and the session got re-started soon. Times were now being quicker and the times set before the red flag were easily beaten.
On the last minutes, times were constantly improving and some drivers put super-softs. Finally, Fernando Alonso set the best time after doing the last lap with slicks. Ricciardo, Marcus Ericsson, Pascal Wehrlein, Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll were eliminated.
Q2 was held with the track completely dry. Mercedes were setting the pace with Valtteri Bottas using soft tyres to start the race with them (he has a five-position grid penalty). Track was still improving and the last times set were the best ones. Felipe Massa, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso (who will start last due to a penalty), Daniil Kvyat and Jolyon Palmer were eliminated. Surprisingly, Stoffel Vandoorne made it to Q3.
The final battle for Pole position got underway and both Mercedes set great 1:27 times, a register that had never been achieved during the week-end. However, Sebastian Vettel set a 1:27.4 that put him second, behind Lewis Hamilton and ahead of Valtteri Bottas.
Finally, Hamilton took his 67th career Pole with an astonishing 1:26.600. Kimi Raikkönen will be alongside him in first row. His team mate and championship leader, Vettel, will start third. Bottas has qualifyied fourth, but will start ninth due to the penalty. Max Verstappen, Nico Hülkenberg, Sergio Pérez, Esteban Ocon, Vandoorne and Romain Grosjean complete the Top 10.
After that, we only have to wait until tomorrow at 3:00 PM local time to see who gets the win in Silverstone.
