Hamilton Smashes lap record to take pole in Britain

Following an impressive time of 1:29.243 in Q2, Hamilton once again outpaced teammate Nico Rosberg, as he continues his pursuit of the German in the race for the Drivers’ Championship.

Hamilton has now qualified on pole 4 times in Britain, equalling the record of F1 great Sir Sterling Moss.

HAM: “I’ll give it everything I’ve got [tomorrow]. We’re starting on the right foot. I can’t wait” #BritishGP ?? pic.twitter.com/R5lS5UgXaO

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 9, 2016

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo qualified 3^rd and 4^th on the grid, as the Red bulls outpaced Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, who finished just behind in 5^th and 6^th.

The young Dutchman out qualified his teammate for the first time since his Red Bull debut back in may, in the Spanish Grand Prix.

VES: “It all went well. Today was a really good qualifying. The car performed as it should” #BritishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/GrKyHOxYi6

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 9, 2016

Just days after Raikkonen and Vettel signed a new contract with Ferrari, the pair both had their troubles throughout the qualifying session. Sebastian Vettel was awarded a 5 place grid penalty, following his third enforced gearbox change of the season. Whilst teammate Kimi Raikkonen spun and went wide on several occasions in Q2, as he struggled for any consistency in lap times on track.

Jenson Button failed to progress past the first part of qualifying as he only attempted 3 laps in Q1. Button could only watch as Daniil Kvyat narrowly pipped the Brit into Q2, as Button remained in the garage for the majority of Q1 whilst his team worked on a mechanical issue. The Brit will hope to work his way up the grid like he has done on previous occasions, to build on his impressive 6^th place finish last week in Austria.

Fellow Brit Jolyon Palmer also fell at the first hurdle, as he didn’t have enough pace to progress into Q2.

The FIA are sure to come under some heavy criticism for their inconsistency regarding the drivers exceeding track limits.  Max Verstappen and Kevin Magnussen appeared to exceed the tracks limits on more than one occasion, but were let off, however Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton did similar and received lap time deletions.

There was disappointment for Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez, as they missed out on the top 10, whilst Fernando Alonso delivered the goods in Q1, seeing him finish in 10^th.