After an incredible lap, Hamilton has taken pole by over half a second. Some doubt remains over whether he will start from this position, however, as he is still under investigation for holding Grosjean up on his lap in Q3.
Q1
It began raining just 10 minutes before the session started. Although it was light rain only, this was enough to make the session incredibly exciting. Both Red Bulls went straight out on inters but many others took a gamble on the slicks. Slicks turned out to be the wrong call and all these drivers went to pit immediately.
Ricciardo set the quickest time but then pulled over at Woodcote, with a turbo failure and his session came to a premature end. With the track still wet, a red flag came out to allow his car to be cleared away.
When the session restarted, it was still wet enough for inters and it soon became a case of who was last to cross the line. With 2 minutes remaining, Alonso dived into the pits and switched to slicks, he narrowly made it around before the chequered flag and ended up fastest of all in Q1!
Out in Q1:
- Stroll
- Magnussen
- Wehrlein
- Ericsson
- Ricciardo
Q2
With the track now almost dry, all drivers opted for slicks in the second session. Bottas was the only driver to go out on the softs rather than supersofts, meaning he can start the race on a different compound to his rivals. He easily made it through to the top ten shootout.
Meanwhile, Vettel went quickest of all only to be beaten by Hamilton, an impressive second quicker. In the final seconds of the session, Palmer improved to go tenth but was knocked out of Q3 by Perez and Grosjean improving. Impressively, Vandoorne managed to scrape into the top ten, beating Alonso for the first time this year.
Out in Q2:
- Palmer
- Kvyat
- Alonso
- Sainz
- Massa
Q3
Setting the quickest lap initially was Hamilton, with a 1:27.231 to take provisional pole. Vettel was incredibly close behind, however, with less than two tenths separating the pair. Bottas went third, ahead of Raikkonen on the first round of laps.
Going into the final minutes of the session, Bottas was first to cross the line but a mistake at Village cost him time, although he improved to second. But Raikkonen went quicker, knocking Bottas further down. Then it was Hamilton’s turn and he was stunning – setting a time of 1:26.600 – the fastest ever on the new configuration. Vettel was only third, but it was enough to push Bottas to 4th.
As the session ended, it was announced that Hamilton was under investigation for holding up Grosjean when the Haas driver was on his flying lap. They are yet to confirm if any penalty is to be given but if so, it could be an all-Ferrari front row.
Q3 Results:
- Hamilton
- Raikkonen
- Vettel
- Bottas
- Verstappen
- Hulkenberg
- Perez
- Ocon
- Vandoorne
- Grosjean
The Grid
Bottas has a 5-place grid drop so will start the race ninth. Ricciardo also has a 5-place penalty for gearbox, but qualified last anyway. He will start 19th as Alonso will be last after a 30-place engine penalty.
The provisional grid for the race is therefore:
Hamilton, Raikkonen; Vettel, Verstappen; Hulkenberg, Perez; Ocon, Vandoorne; Bottas, Grosjean; Palmer, Kvyat; Sainz, Massa; Stroll, Magnussen; Wehrlein, Ericsson; Ricciardo, Alonso.