Hamilton has won his fifth British GP pole, and is now one pole win away from equaling Michael Schumacher. This is his third pole in a row. The Brit is under investigation for an incident between him and Grosjean, more on that will follow. Raikkonen and Vettel came home in P2 and P3, a double podium for Ferrari. Bottas despite finishing fourth will start the race from P9.
British GP Qualifying 2017
1. Hamilton – Mercedes
2. Raikkonen – Ferrari
3. Vettel – Ferrari
4. Bottas – Mercedes
5. Verstappen – Red Bull
6. Hulkenberg – Renault
7. Perez – Force India
8. Ocon – Force India
9. Vandoorne – McLaren
10. Grosjean – Haas
Bottas will be taking a five place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change, apparently noticed the same week as Hamilton only they thought it was fixable. Hamilton served a similar penalty back at the Austrian GP last weekend. Ricciardo will also serve a similar penalty while Alonso will start from the back of the field.
A few drops of rain were part of Q1 and the Red Bulls, Ferrari and McLaren opted for the inters. Raikkonen later reported heavy rain on the track before Ricciardo put the fastest time on 1m42.966s. The Mercedes crew was yet to make a run, in the meantime Hulkenberg slotted in second, leading Verstappen, Vettel and Vandoorne.
Riccardo spun his car at the exit of Luffield, and later reported turbo issues, moments before that Hamilton set the third fastest time. The race was red flagged to extract Ricciardo’s car who was now walking away. Wehrlein and Ericsson had not set a time when the red flag flew.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
Q1 halted while marshals remove RIC's car #Quali #BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/DSufcM10JG
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 15, 2017
Q1 was green again, Hamilton topped the field before Vettel overthrew him by 1.2s. A couple of purple sectors and Verstappen shot to the top of the field, beating Vettel by 1.1s.
Eliminated in Q1 were Stroll, Magnussen, Wehrlein, Ericsson and Ricciardo. Alonso crossed the finish line just before the red lights came on, and he managed to take P1. The top ten comprised of Alonso, Verstappen, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Ocon, Vettel, Vandoorne, Raikkonen and Sainz.
Great call to switch to the Option tyre. Fernando goes fastest in P1! #BritishGP 👊💪 pic.twitter.com/s8tusu15vE
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 15, 2017
In Q2, Bottas started on soft tires while most of the field opted for the super soft. The rain was also beginning to fade away. Verstappen set the clock going with a fastest time, later beaten by Grosjean and Raikkonen. Hamilton topped the timesheet before Hulkenberg beat his time by 0.06s. Bottas would then go quickest by 1.3s with Verstappen recovering to take second.
Supersoft the clear choice for #Q2, apart from @ValtteriBottas who takes soft. Bottas faces a grid penalty tomorrow; part of strategy?
— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) July 15, 2017
Vettel’s lap put him in second place between Bottas and Verstappen, and after a few quickest sectors Hamilton reclaimed the top spot again. In their final runs, Raikkonen took the top spot but only momentarily before Vettel did his final lap to go fastest. He was later beaten by Hamilton who was 0.8s quicker.
Eliminated in this session were Palmer, Kvyat, Alonso, Sainz and Massa. The top ten was made up of Hamilton, Bottas, Vettel, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Verstappen, Ocon, Perez, Grosjean and Vandoorne.
Bottas kicked off Q3 with a 1m27.580s, Hamilton beat that by 0.349s.
“What’s that?!” yelled an angry Grosjean after coming across a slow Mercedes of Hamilton. “Mercedes needs a better GPS!” The incident was placed under investigation.
After the final laps in Q3, Hamilton emerged fastest leading Raikkonen, Vettel, Bottas, Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Perez, Ocon, Vandoorne and Grosjean.
