British Grand Prix: Hamilton claims pole, Vettel settles for third

Lewis Hamilton pulled off a stunning lap to claim a third consecutive pole position at the British Grand Prix, beating nearest challenger Kimi Raikkonen by more than half a second.

The home favourite, who was already leading the timesheets in Q3, delivered a lap of one minute, 26.600 seconds on a damp day at Silverstone. It is the fastest yet around the circuit’s current layout, while the gap of 0.547secs to Raikkonen is the biggest between P1 and P2 this season.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel had to settle for third, and Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas will start ninth thanks to a five-place grid penalty.

Bottas’ loss is Max Verstappen’s gain, the Red Bull driver climbing to fourth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

The top 10 is completed by Stoffel Vandoorne and Romain Grosjean, with Daniel Ricciardo having been forced to retire in Q1.

The result sees Hamilton equal Jim Clark’s record of five pole positions at the British Grand Prix, while he is now just one short of Michael Schumacher’s overall F1 pole record.

HAM to RAI = 0.547s

That’s the biggest P1 – P2 margin in #Quali so far this season#Quali #BritishGP