Qualy: Hamilton pips Vettel in Silverstone stunner

Lewis Hamilton will start the British GP from pole position for a record sixth time, edging title rival Sebastian Vettel by 0.044s on Saturday.

Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, fresh from a session with his physio due to a neck pain that limited his running in final practice, each claimed a P1 in the first two parts of qualifying, however, when it came to it, it was Hamilton who found the pace when it mattered most.

Hamilton and Vettel traded purple sector times as they raced to the line on their first attempt.

It was first blood to Vettel with two fastest sector times on his way to a 1:25.936.

That put him 0.057s up on Hamilton.

Hamilton ran Vettel close on his second run, 0.004s down in the first sector, 0.046s up in the second, and crossed the line with a 1:25.894 to improve to provisional pole.

Vettel was unable to fight back and had to settle for second, 0.044s down.

Kimi Raikkonen was third, just 0.098 seconds off pole himself, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen.

Daniel Ricciardo’s efforts were hampered due to a DRS problem as his rear wing flap would not open on his first run.

Christian Horner put it down to a software glitch and declared the issue resolved ahead of the Aussie’s second run. But it hadn’t, he qualified P6.

Haas got both drivers into Q3 with Kevin Magnussen seventh and Romain Grosjean P8.

Charles Leclerc also made it through to Q3 again, the Sauber rookie finishing Saturday’s action in ninth place while Esteban Ocon completed the top ten.

Q1 took a few minutes longer than the expected 18 as Lance Stroll lost it under-braking and beached his Williams in the Brooklands gravel. He failed to set a lap time.

His team-mate Sergey Sirotkin also had an off but managed to keep his car out of the barriers while also escaping from the kitty litter at Stowe.

He is under investigation for not coming into the pit lane when the red flag was shown for his team-mate and finished qualifying in 18th place.

Stroll will share the back row of the grid with Brendon Hartley, who did not take part in qualifying after his FP3 destroyed his car.

As for his team-mate, Pierre Gasly, he qualified in an STR13 fitted with all new suspension parts and made it as far as 14th place.

Times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:25.892
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 0.044s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 0.098s
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.325s
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 0.71s
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1.207s
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1.352s
8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1.563s
9 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1.987s
10 Esteban Ocon Force India 2.302s
11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:27.901
12 Sergio Perez Force India 1:27.928
13 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:28.139
14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:28.343
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:28.391
16 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:28.456
17 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:29.096
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:29.252
19 Stroll Williams no time
20 Hartley Toro Rosso no time