F1 2015 Silverstone British Grand Prix qualifying result: Hamilton claims pole position

The 30-year-old Mercedes driver from Hertfordshire took pole at home track Silverstone this afternoon (Saturday) from Silver Arrows colleague Nico Rosberg.

There was little to separate the Silver Arrows at Silverstone, as home hero Hamilton secured a crowd-pleasing 2015 British Grand Prix pole.

Hamilton claimed provisional pole position in Q3 with an opening flying lap of 1m 32.248s, with Rosberg 0.113s slower in second place at that stage.

Hamilton was unable to improve his time on his final run and aborted his lap.

Rosberg couldn’t go quicker either, and the pair claimed another Mercedes front-row lockout with Hamilton recording the 46th pole of his F1 career.

Tewin race hero Hamilton called it “a special day” after claiming a front row start in front of his home fans at Silverstone.

Felipe Massa qualified third in the Q3 results ahead of Williams colleague Valtteri Bottas.

Then came the Ferrari cars of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, in fifth and sixth places respectively on the provisional grid, for an all-red third row.

Nico Rosberg shakes Lewis Hamilton's hand after the Briton claim pole position in qualifying for the 2015 British Grand Prix at Silverstone [Picture: Mercedes-Benz] (Image: Mercedes-Benz)

Stevenage-born Hamilton is now third in the all-time list of pole winners behind Michael Schumacher, who tops the list with 68, and Ayrton Senna.

Today’s result marks the third consecutive British Grand Prix pole for the Mercedes AMG Petronas team.

Hamilton was delighted to thrill the thousands of flag-waving home fans at the famous British GP track.

He said: “It’s a special day and an extra special feeling getting pole on my home turf in front of all the fantastic fans that have come out here to Silverstone.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg claimed a front-row lockout in qualifying for the 2015 British Grand Prix at Silverstone [Picture: Mercedes-Benz] (Image: Mercedes-Benz)

“They’ve been absolutely incredible, so a big thank you to everyone for the support.”

After a few hiccups in practice, Hamilton said: “It hasn’t been a completely smooth weekend – I’d not quite managed to find the right balance throughout the practice sessions.

“Although it’s my favourite part of the track, it’s been tough through the middle sector in particular with the wind. But luckily it all came together in qualifying.”

Hamilton added: “That was such a buzz – having the car working underneath me and seeing all the flags waving out of the corner of my eye as I came round the lap.

“I’ve got my brother [Nic] here too and I’ve seen so many messages on banners in the crowd and on social media building up to today.

“I can’t thank everyone enough for their support. I’m very, very happy with that one!”

Rosberg qualified second, just 0.113s behind his Mercedes team-mate or, in other words, a 0.1 per cent gap in one-lap performance.

Both Mercedes drivers ran once in Q1 (Prime) and Q2 (Option) before making two Option runs in Q3.

Rosberg said: “My first run in Q3 was quick and I thought I had nailed it but, when I had a look on my dash, Lewis was just one tenth quicker which was very annoying.

“In the second run I was set to improve – but something felt wrong with my left front tyre.

“I had no grip, so we need to look into that later.

“I’ve had a tricky weekend so far with a few car problems – but it’s all still possible tomorrow as we have seen in the last race.

“Another big thanks to the boys in the garage. They had a lot of work to do again in the morning session to get my car back out after the issue.

“Also, it’s really great to race here in front of such massive crowds.

“The people clearly love racing and even cheer on the non-British drivers, which is very cool to see, so a big hand for them too.”

Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, was delighted to claim another qualifying one-two.

He said: “What a fantastic qualifying session and such a close battle between the boys.

“In the end, Lewis mastered the windy conditions and put everything together on that first run in Q3 – and his time was good enough for pole.

“You could see the fans cheering every single time he went past the grandstands and a lap like that deserved pole position.

“But we can’t overlook Nico, just one tenth behind. Like nearly every driver, he couldn’t improve on the final run and reported a loss of grip from his tyres.

“It seemed like the conditions shifted and made it tricky out there.

“The advantage has been swinging back and forth between the drivers all weekend and everything’s open for tomorrow.”

The cars of Massa and Bottas will line-up on the second row behind the two Silver Arrows.

Wolff added: “We have got the two Williams behind us and they had some strong pace in practice, so we cannot get complacent at any point.

“It’s all about getting every detail right if we want to convert the front row into podium finishes.”

Paddy Lowe, Mercedes’ technical director, felt it was a “very tense and exciting” qualifying session.

He said: “I think the whole crowd has been waiting all weekend to see how the contest plays out between Lewis and Nico.

“So far, it has been back and forth between the two of them, with Nico quicker one moment, then Lewis the next.

“Within the team, we had no idea who would end up on top.

“They were two great laps from the drivers in tricky conditions and a great performance from the team to get the cars into a good position with the balance for the final runs.

“Congratulations to Lewis and Nico – and now we look forward to the main event and hope we will put on a good show for the fans.”

While Mercedes officials celebrated a front-row lockout, it was another challenging afternoon for McLaren.

As expected, given Silverstone’s high-speed corners and long straights, this was a difficult qualifying session for the team.

Both drivers were eliminated in Q1 – Fernando Alonso qualifying 17th, and Jenson Button 18th.

Their fastest times were set on the Option tyre. However, Button admitted that his car felt better balanced on the Prime, which will be raced tomorrow.

Button said: “I don’t know why, but the Prime tyre has suited me far better than the Option this weekend.

“Normally, you add turns of front wing to balance the car for the Option tyre, but we’ve been taking front wing out this weekend.”

The 2009 F1 world champion: “I’ve been struggling with the balance a little bit – hopefully we’ll learn a lot tomorrow, that’s all we can do, really.

“Unfortunately, this is our situation right now – and it’s not easy for a team of this stature and experience.

“There’s always an amazing atmosphere at Silverstone – and today is no exception – but this hurts in front of my home crowd. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.”

Button’s McLaren colleague Alonso said: “I had a problem at the end of FP3 this morning. There was no clear resolution to the problem, but we found a suitable solution, and everything started working after we reset it.

“That meant I went into qualifying having done very few laps.

“I didn’t start the session knowing enough about either the set-up or the conditions, but, given those limitations, I think we got the best from the car.

“I don’t think I could’ve gone much quicker than that today.”

The former world champion added: “We knew this race would be tough for us – as will fast circuits like Spa and Monza – but we all appreciate that this is a long-term project, and we’re definitely building for the future.”

Eric Boullier, the racing director at McLaren-Honda, admitted it was a disappointing performance in front of the team’s home fans.

He said: “For McLaren to qualify 17th and 18th for the British Grand Prix, our home race, is very hard to take, I’ll readily admit that.

“Our British fans are among the most knowledgeable, enthusiastic and loyal in the world, and, frankly, they deserve better than this.

“Success will come, in time, and they’ll have reason to cheer in the future, but not this weekend clearly. For that I have to apologise.”

He added: “Having said all that, we know what we have to do to get where we need to get, and we’ll continue to fight the good fight. As I say, we’ll get there, mark my words.

“In Fernando and Jenson, moreover, we have two truly indefatigable champions, whose efforts in prolonged adversity have been and remain an inspiration to all of us.

“Looking forward to the race, it would be foolhardy if I were to predict a points-scoring performance tomorrow, but the weather is notoriously fickle here at Silverstone, so anything is theoretically possible.

“So, come rain or shine, you may be well sure that we’ll be giving it everything we’ve got, our endeavours spearheaded as ever and as always by our two great standard-bearers, Fernando and Jenson.”