Qualifying - Hamilton claims home pole at British GP

Lewis Hamilton claimed his 46th career pole position (8th this year) at his home race this Saturday at the Silverstone circuit, ahead of Nico Rosberg and Williams’s Felipe Massa.

"It's a special day, it's special to get pole on your home turf. The fans really do motivate me" said Hamilton, who is now third in the all-time pole position list behind Senna and Schumacher.

Rosberg also had some words… "The first lap was really good; the last run, it was strange as not many improved on that one. Something very wrong, so we need to look into what that was."

Meanwhile, Williams outqualified Ferrari and placed both Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas in the second row, third and fourth respectively. Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel settle for row number three.

Before the shootout, Q2 was particularly harsh on Max Verstappen, who had been impressive from Friday, but had very negative feelings from the car today, and complained on radio "I can’t do anything". His team-mate Carlos Sainz did manage to place himself in the top ten.

Eliminated in Q2 were also Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean, Pastor Maldonado and Marcus Ericsson; while Q1 saw the exit of Felipe Nasr, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, and both Manor cars.

McLaren did manage to get Alonso out on track though it was tough to see both McLarens go out in the first qualifying session at their home Grand Prix.

QUALIFYING RESULT:

1. L Hamilton, Mercedes — 1:32.248

2. N Rosberg, Mercedes — +0.113

3. F Massa, Williams — +0.837

4. V Bottas, Williams — +0.901

5. K Raikkonen, Ferrari — +1.131

6. S Vettel, Ferrari — +1.299

7. D Kvyat, Red Bull — +1.388

8. C Sainz, Toro Rosso — +1.401

9. N Hulkenberg, Force India — +1.425

10. D Ricciardo, Red Bull —

Final grid: Hamilton, Rosberg, Massa, Bottas, Raikkonen, Vettel, Kvyat, Sainz, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Perez, Grosjean, Verstappen, Maldonado, Ericsson, Nasr, Alonso, Button, Stevens, Merhi.