Lewis Hamilton took pole position for his Formula 1 home Grand prix in Great Britain. But the Mercedes driver is under investigation for impeding Haas’ Romain Grosjean during Q3.
Second and third in the qualifying were the Ferrari drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.
Temperatures were practically unchanged at the start of the session compared to the morning – 16-17 degrees of the air and 21 of the track. According to the forecast, the chance of rain was 90%. And there was rain – for a short time during Q1 but it really made that segment interesting.
Most drivers chose intermediate tyres for their first laps on the damp Silverstone. Raikkonen said it was raining hard. “Intermediates are the way to go”, Vettel added.
Daniel Ricciardo stopped with a technical issue during Q1. The Red Bull driver also has a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. The session was stopped until the marshals moved his car to a safe place.
By that time the rain had stopped and everybody was on slick tyres. The track was drying and that is why there was a surprise in the first qualifying segment. Fernando Alonso managed to get a last quick lap and was fastest of all in the end!
After Q1 Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen, Pascal Wehrlein, Marcus Ericsson and Ricciardo did not continue.
Lewis Hamilton took pole position for his Formula 1 home Grand prix in Great Britain. But the Mercedes driver is under investigation for impeding Haas’ Romain Grosjean during Q3
At the beginning of Q2, all drivers were on dry tyres. There were still wet areas on the track, and Verstappen demonstrated it, sliding during his warm-up lap.
There were no surprises in that segment except Valtteri Bottas’ choice of tyre compound – soft. The Finn has a penalty and that might have been a strategic choice.
The battle for the positions of the first five grid rows in Q3 began without any delay. In addition to the Mercedes, Ferrari, Force India drivers and Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Grosjean and Stoffel Vandoorne took part in it. Hamilton was fastest again, while Raikkonen came second – in front of his Scuderia teammate Vettel.
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF QUALIFYING): Majestic lap from HAM #Quali #BritishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/3iEiNmiT4R
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 15, 2017
