Hamilton snatches Silverstone pole

Lewis Hamilton will start the British Grand Prix from pole position following a pressure filled qualifying session at Silverstone.

The Mercedes driver was on provisional pole after his first run but the time was subsequently deleted when stewards deemed Hamilton had exceeded track limits at Copse corner.

This left the reigning world champion without a time heading into the final two minutes of the session.

However, Hamilton made no mistakes on his final effort as he posted a 1:29.287s to claim pole by 0.319s from Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Red Bull proved to be Mercedes’ nearest challenger, although it was Max Verstappen who claimed third.

The Dutchman out-qualified Daniel Ricciardo for the first time this season, but was more than a second adrift of Hamilton, as Mercedes once again showcased their dominance.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen secured fifth despite a scrappy session that saw the Finn spin in Q2.

Team-mate Sebastian Vettel was sixth but will start Sunday’s race from 11th following a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

As a result of the penalty, Valtteri Bottas will start from sixth ahead of Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren).

A frantic end to Q2 saw Sergio Perez narrowly miss out on a place in the final part of qualifying alongside the Williams of Felipe Massa.

However, Perez will start inside the top 10 following Vettel’s penalty.

Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez will share the seventh row ahead of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen.

It proved to be a disappointing session for local driver Jenson Button as a late effort from Kvyat saw him fail to progress from Q1.

Button was limited to only three laps after suffering a rear wing failure.

The McLaren driver was given hope of a reprieve after Magnussen was investigated for exceeding track limits, but the Brit ultimately had to settle for 17th position.

He joined the sister Renault of fellow Brit Jolyon Palmer in the drop zone at the end of Q1.

Manor’s Rio Haryanto pipped Pascal Wehrlein while Sauber’s Felipe Nasr was the last of the runners to post a time.

Nasr’s team-mate Marcus Ericsson missed the session after being transferred to hospital for precautionary checks following a heavy crash in Practice 3.

Result: Formula 1 British Grand Prix Qualifying