Following a wet practice session yesterday morning and drying weather in the afternoon, today’s action was dry from start to finish, with 20 degrees centigrade ambient temperature and 32 degrees centigrade of track temperatures. Similar conditions are expected for the race tomorrow.
The majority of the top runners used the hard compound to get through Q1, with the exception of the Mercedes drivers, who opted for the medium tyres to set the two fastest times in the session with Hamilton leading his team mate Nico Rosberg.
All the drivers used the medium tyre in Q2, with the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finishing in one-two formation. Bad day for Felipe Massa and McLaren drivers.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Lotus’s Romain Grosjean were the only drivers to start the final top 10 Q3 shoot out on hard tyres, but they both set their fastest times with the medium compound. All the drivers completed two runs in Q3, with plenty of action from start to finish.
Paul di Resta has been excluded from qualifying at the British Grand Prix after his Force India was found to be under the minimum weight limit. The Scot had secured fifth on the grid at Silverstone but his car came in 1.5kg underweight in post-qualifying scrutineering.
Even with a mandatory fuel sample on board, the car weighed only 641.5 kg - which is 0.5 kg below the minimum weight. After the FIA drained the car of fuel, it was found it weighed just 640kg, two kilogrammes under the limit. With a 0.5kg tolerance accepted for the scales' accuracy, it was ruled that the car was officially 1.5kg underweight.
P. Driver Team Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:29.607
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:30.059 + 0.452
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:30.211 + 0.604
4. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:30.220 + 0.613
5. Paul di Resta Force India 1:30.736 + 1.129
6. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:30.757 + 1.150
7. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:30.908 + 1.301
8. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:30.955 + 1.348
9. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:30.962 + 1.355
10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:30.979 + 1.372
Q2 fastest time: Sebastian Vettel 1:30.990 Gap
11. Jenson Button McLaren 1:31.649 + 0.659
12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.779 + 0.789
13. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:31.785 + 0.795
14. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:32.082 + 1.092
15. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:32.211 + 1.221
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:32.359 + 1.369
Q1 fastest time: Lewis Hamilton 1:30.995 Gap
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:32.664 + 1.669
18. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:32.666 + 1.671
19. Charles Pic Caterham 1:33.866 + 2.871
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:34.108 + 3.113
21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:35.481 + 4.486
22. Max Chilton Marussia 1:35.858 + 4.863
107% time: 1:37.364
