British Grand Prix Qualifying: Hamilton the hero at home

Lewis Hamilton gave the sell out crowd what they came to see with his third career pole position at Silverstone as he headed team-mate Nico Rosberg in another Mercedes lock out as the Williams team muscled Ferrari off the second row.

Hamilton's march to the front of the grid here means he is now third on the all-time of pole position winners list with 46 career poles, edging past Sebastian Vettel to sit behind Ayrton Senna (65) and Michael Schumacher (68).

Hamilton's eighth pole from nine races this season makes it the 17th front row in succession for the Briton and puts him in the prime position to take a third win at his home race, though he has yet to win from top spot.

The world champion's first lap of Q3 sufficed for pole position as neither he nor Rosberg could improve in the gusty conditions at the Northamptonshire venue celebrating its 50th appearance as a Formula One world championship host.

Rosberg complained of a strange vibration on his left front tyre after his second run having had to give best to Hamilton by 0.113s on their first set of medium Pirellis in the final shoot-out.

Felipe Massa headed Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas on the inside of the second row, the only one to improve on his second run, finding 0.257s to record his best ever qualifying performance in Silverstone.

Ferrari's qualifying effort was less productive than of late, though fan favourite Kimi Raikkonen, whose qualifying performances have been the subject of scrutiny both within and without the team, edged team-mate Sebastian Vettel by 0.068s.

Daniil Kvyat is the lead Red Bull after qualifying, the Russian finishing just over a hundredth of a second faster than Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Junior. Both their team-mates hit problems, however.

Daniel Ricciardo starts tenth after having his best time deleted by the stewards for exceeding the track limits at Copse Corner, one of many to fall foul of the officials on this point.

One place ahead, Nico Hulkenberg used the new B spec Force India to good effect to  qualify ninth, a scant two hundredths of a second behind Sainz.

His team-mate Sergio Perez was a disconsolate 11th, missing out on the top ten shoot-out by just under two tenths of a second after losing his best time – which would have been enough to make it through – for exceeding the track limits at Copse corner.

Romain Grosjean was the best-placed Lotus driver in 12th, two places and just over two tenths of a second ahead of team-mate Pastor Maldonado who also fell foul of the stewards on the issue of track limits, in Q1 and Q2.

Splitting the Lotuses was British Grand Prix debutant Max Verstappen. The Dutchman's fine practice form was absent as he spun at the Beckett's complex during Q1 and complained volubly and regularly on the radio of a lack of traction and grip on his way to 13th place.

Marcus Ericsson qualified 15th for Sauber, just one place ahead of team-mate Felipe Nasr despite being the only representative of Hinwil to make it to the second part of qualifying.

Nasr missed out on Q2 by 0.011s to Pastor Maldonado. The second Sauber headed the two McLaren Hondas, led by three-time British Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso with team-mate Jenson Button in 18th on the grid.

Alonso's lap was actually a satisfying performance for the Spaniard who missed much of the final free practice session with an elusive engine problem. The Spaniard insisted afterwards that it was actually McLaren's strongest qualifying session of the year, based on their 1.5s deficit to the fastest time on the same tyre.

Afterwards, however it transpired that McLaren had erred during the session and fitted Alonso's car with one of Button's tyres and the team has been summoned before the stewards to explain the mistake. It could result in Alonso being excluded from the qualifying result.

At the back, Essex-born Will Stevens headed his Manor F1 team-mate Roberto Merhi after both drivers first qualifying session at the British Grand Prix.

British Grand Prix Qualifying

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m32.248s -

2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.361s 0.113s

3 Felipe Massa Williams 1m33.085s 0.837s

4 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m33.149s 0.901s

5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m33.379s 1.131s

6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m33.547s 1.299s

7 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1m33.636s 1.388s

8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1m33.649s 1.401s

9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1m33.673s 1.425s

10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1m33.943s 1.695s

11 Sergio Perez Force India 1m34.268s 2.020s

12 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m34.430s 2.182s

13 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1m34.502s 2.254s

14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1m34.511s 2.263s

15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1m34.868s 2.620s

16 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1m34.888s 2.640s

17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1m34.959s 2.711s

18 Jenson Button McLaren 1m35.207s 2.959s

19 Will Stevens Marussia 1m37.364s 5.116s