Great Britain – Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton on pole in front of his home crowd

The track temperature has risen significantly since this morning as it reaches 30°C. The air remains cool at 18°C, but the qualifying sessions are guaranteed to take place in dry conditions.

Q1: As soon as the lights turn green, Nico Hülkenberg enters the pit lane, closely followed by his Sauber teammate, Esteban Gutierrez. Meanwhile, the top teams are preparing quietly, with Mark Webber not even seated in his car yet and Lewis Hamilton taking the time to wave to the crowd in the stands. Nico Hülkenberg sets the first benchmark time at 1:35.086. This very modest initial time doesn’t hold for long as Esteban Gutierrez clocks in at 1:33.697. Romain Grosjean then puts in a time of 1:32.586, placing him in the lead. He quickly improves with a 1:32.401 and further solidifies his provisional pole position over Fernando Alonso with a lap time of 1:31.964.

Nevertheless, Nico Rosberg makes a strong impression with 1:31.355, and Lewis Hamilton does even better with 1:30.995. He is therefore the first to break the 1:31 mark this weekend. Eight minutes from the end, the two Red Bulls, Jenson Button, and Giedo van der Garde have still not left their box. They will therefore qualify on a single attempt. No problem for Mark Webber, who places third with 1:31.605, just ahead of Sebastian Vettel (1:31.854).

Felipe Massa, who had a complicated start to the weekend with an off-track excursion yesterday afternoon and a problem this morning, was in 18th position for a long time. He salvaged his performance on his last attempt with the 14th fastest time.

Giedo van der Garde was sent out on track at the very last moment of the session. He managed to beat Max Chilton to take 21st place. Valtteri Bottas finished in 17th place, a tenth behind his teammate Pastor Maldonado. Esteban Gutierrez could not do better than 18th, while his teammate finished the session in 13th place. Charles Pic was ahead of Jules Bianchi by just over three-tenths.

In front, the two Mercedes are ahead of the two Lotus, the two Red Bull, and the two McLaren.

Eliminated in Q1: Bottas, Gutierrez, Pic, Bianchi, van der Garde, and Chilton

Q2: For this second part of the qualifications, Mark Webber is the first to go out. He clocks a 1:31.341 on his first attempt, just ahead of Adrian Sutil (1:31.410). Felipe Massa locks up his tires under braking and only manages the provisional 7th time, at 1:32.375. Sebastian Vettel continues with his strategy of saving his tires and only goes out in the last part of the session. Sergio Pérez and Nico Hülkenberg adopt the same strategy.

At mid-session, the two Mercedes still occupy the provisional front row, with Nico Rosberg (1:31.028) ahead of his teammate (1:31.224). At that moment, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, and Pastor Maldonado are in the danger zone.

In his first attempt in Q2, Sebastian Vettel puts on a great performance and sets the fastest time at 1:30.990. Jean-Eric Vergne, then in 11th place, makes a small mistake and goes wide in a corner, putting his wheels on the grass, which costs him any chance of improving his time even though he was ahead of Kimi Räikkönen’s time. Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo records the third-fastest time, at 1:31.182, between the two Mercedes.

In the end, Kimi Räikkönen manages to get back in front of Jean-Eric Vergne, who had managed to improve his time. The McLarens confirm their poor form as Jenson Button is 11th (just five hundredths behind the Finnish Lotus) and Sergio Pérez 14th. Felipe Massa was unable to do better than 12th while Jean-Eric Vergne ultimately ranks 13th. Nico Hülkenberg managed to get ahead of Pastor Maldonado on his only fast lap.

In front, the two Red Bulls are ahead of Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil, and Daniel Ricciardo, Lewis Hamilton, Paul di Resta, and Fernando Alonso. Romain Grosjean therefore managed to achieve a better time than his teammate in this session.

Eliminated in Q2: Button, Massa, Vergne, Pérez, Hülkenberg, and Maldonado

Q3: Daniel Ricciardo rushes into the pit lane at the start of the session. Everyone else quickly heads out, except for Kimi Räikkönen, who is looking to save a set of tires. Mark Webber sets a very nice first timed lap at 1:30.508, but it’s not enough against Nico Rosberg (1:30.231) and Lewis Hamilton (1:30.096), who is almost a second faster than in Q1! Although they went out quickly, the two Sahara Force India drivers did not set any timed laps. Everyone is in the pits three minutes before the end of the session, before heading out for another run.

Mark Webber moves back to second with a time of 1:30.220, but Nico Rosberg manages to set the fastest time, before Lewis Hamilton reclaims his position! Sebastian Vettel can’t do better than third. In his only timed lap, Kimi Räikkönen finishes 9th, behind his teammate Romain Grosjean but ahead of Fernando Alonso. The British crowd is thrilled to see one of their own on pole!

Very beautiful 5th place for Paul di Resta, who is ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and his Sahara Force India teammate, Adrian Sutil.

Results of the 2013 British Grand Prix Qualifying:

From our special correspondent in Silverstone