Hamilton blitzes rivals for Silverstone pole

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start the F1 2013 British Grand Prix from pole position after a stunning lap in Q3 left his rivals floundering.

Hamilton was required to up his game on his final flying lap after team-mate Nico Rosberg improved, and he duly did, firing his W04 across the line in 1 minute 29.607 seconds - making him the only man to break the 1m 30s barrier and putting a 0.452 second margin between himself and the sister car.

It was Hamilton's second pole position of the season and the 28th of his career, while for Mercedes the squad has now taken five pole positions so far this year and has locked out the front-row three times.

Sebastian Vettel meanwhile could only manage third with a 1m 30.211s effort, just ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.

Paul di Resta gave the local crowd further reason to cheer by taking fifth on the grid for Force India and he will line-up alongside Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo, as the Australian produced an ideal audition for countryman Webber's seat in 2014. Adrian Sutil reinforced Force India's pace in seventh, putting himself ahead of Lotus duo Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, while Fernando Alonso was forced to bring up the rear in tenth spot in his Ferrari.

As for Q2, Jenson Button ended up just on the wrong side of the cusp and will start eleventh for McLaren. The Briton clung to a tenuous tenth spot for a short period, only to be demoted late on by Raikkonen. Sergio Perez also struggled in the sister MP4-28 and will start down in P14.

It wasn't only Button and Perez in the mire, however, as Ferrari #2 Felipe Massa also failed to progress. He will share row six with Button.

Behind, Jean-Eric Vergne wound up in P13, after running wide at Becketts and compromising what would likely have been a top ten lap. The other two casualties of the second session were Nico Hulkenberg and Pastor Maldonado, with the German snatching the inside of row eight with his last lap of the day.

Of the rest, Valtteri Bottas was edged out in Q1 by his Williams stable-mate Maldonado and will start 16th, with Esteban Gutierrez heading Charles Pic, Jules Bianchi, Max Chilton and Giedo van der Garde behind him. The Dutchman wasn't slowest in the session, but faces a five-place penalty carried over from Montreal.

To see the full times from qualifying for the F1 2013 British Grand Prix - CLICK HERE