Hamilton on pole position at Silverstone

Lewis Hamilton recovered from a mid-qualifying spin to put his Mercedes on pole position for the British Grand Prix.

The six-time world champion set a new track record at Silverstone, finishing comfortably ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, who joins him on the front row of the grid.

Max Verstappen completed the top three, but was the only Red Bull driver to make it through to Q3 after Alexander Albon struggled to get the most of out his car.

Lando Norris had a difficult start to qualifying, making an error on his first flying lap, but he was able to put in a clean lap towards the end of Q1, doing just enough to make it through. The Briton got stronger as qualifying progressed though, eventually securing a spot on the third row.

There were yellow flags late in the opening session when Nicholas Latifi went off, brushing the barrier before managing to bring the car back to the pits himself.

His Williams teammate George Russell made it through to Q2 for the third race in a row, but the British driver was under investigation as qualifying finished by the stewards for not slowing under the yellow flags caused by Latifi’s incident.

The red flag came out in Q2 after Hamilton spun the Mercedes, picking up gravel and spraying it across the racing line. The delay meant there was a late surge of action of the track.

Lance Stroll almost missed out on a spot in the top 10, setting the exact same time as AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, but the Racing Point man set his time first, sending him through ahead of the French driver.

Stroll’s teammate for the weekend, Nico Hulkenberg, couldn’t join the Canadian in the top 10 shootout, but both Ferraris made it through to Q3. Sebastian Vettel will start in 10th though, having been penalised for breaking track limits as he set his fastest time.

Provisional qualifying result:

1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5. Lando Norris (McLaren)

6. Lance Stroll (Racing Point)

7. Carlos Sainz (McLaren)

8. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault)

9. Esteban Ocon (Renault)

10. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)

11. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)

12. Alexander Albon (Red Bull)

13. Nico Hulkenberg (Racing Point)

14. Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri)*

15. George Russell (Williams)

16. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

17. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)

18. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)

19. Romain Grosjean (Haas)

20. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)

*Daniil Kvyat will move back five places due to a grid penalty