British GP 2015: Qualifying Results, Hamilton takes pole position

Lewis Hamilton during qualifying at the British GP

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes took pole at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone today, beating out his teammate Nico Rosberg by 0.113 seconds. This marks yet another Mercedes 1-2, and the Silver Arrows continue their absolute domination this season.

Ferrari suffered today, beaten out by the Williams of Felipe Massa of Brazil and Valtteri Bottas of Finland. Williams have seen a marked improvement in performance since Mercedes announced mid-season engine upgrades – they are also on Mercedes power units. The team have already denied Ferrari two podium spots this season

Ferrari stayed strong through Q2, but the final session did not go to plan. Raikkonen and Vettel finished in 5th and 6th respectively. Raikkonen had looked very strong at the beginning of qualifying, but this did not go to plan as both Ferraris were outpaced by Williams.

Bottas of Williams had started 14th on the grid at 2014’s British Grand Prix, but made an incredible comeback to finish that race in SECOND. Teammate Massa outpaced Ferrari’s Vettel at the Austrian Grand Prix to take 3rd at that race after Vettel beat him in qualifying.

Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso sparked whilst driving in Qualifying 1, but continued to put in a strong performance continuing to Q2. The 17-year-old was heard complaining on team radio that he had “lost traction, can’t do anything” – putting an end to what had been a whopper of a start to the qualifying session at Silverstone.

Hamilton now has 17 consecutive front rows – the second highest of all time behind the 24 of F1 legend Ayrton Senna. Force India had a showing in the top 10, with German driver Nico Hulkenberg at 9th, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull in 10th. Ricciardo’s teammate Daniil Kvyat finished 3 spots ahead of him in 7th.

Standings following Qualifying today are as follows

1. Lewis Hamilton – GBR – Mercedes

2. Nico Rosberg – GER – Mercedes

3. Felipe Massa – BRA – Williams

4. Valtteri Bottas – FIN – Williams

5. Kimi Räikkönen – FIN – Ferrari

6. Sebastian Vettel – GER – Ferrari

7. Dany Kvyat – RUS – Red Bull

8. Carlos Sainz – ESP – Toro Rosso

9. Nico Hülkenberg – GER – Force India

10. Daniel Ricciardo – AUS – Red Bull