Hamilton edges Vettel for record-breaking sixth British GP pole

Lewis Hamilton will start his home race from pole position for a record-brekaing sixth time after topping qualifying for the British Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon at Silverstone, edging out championship rival Sebastian Vettel in Q3.

Hamilton managed to recover from trailing Vettel after their first runs in Q3 to pull out a stunning final lap, crossing the line to record a lap of 1m25.892s that was good enough for his sixth Silverstone pole.

The result saw Hamilton pull clear of Jim Clark in the all-time record list for the most British Grand Prix poles, with the result also marking his fourth consecutive pole position at Silverstone. No driver has beaten him in qualifying for his home race since Nico Rosberg took pole in 2014.

Despite nursing a neck injury, Vettel was able to push Hamilton all the way in the fight for pole, falling just 0.044 seconds shy after failing to improve on his final flying lap due to a slow final sector.

Vettel was closely tailed by Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who was third, 0.098 seconds off Hamilton's pole position time. Fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas will start alongside Raikkonen on Sunday, ending the session fourth after a mistake at the final sector cost him some lap time.

Red Bull was unable to match Mercedes or Ferrari for pace throughout qualifying as Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth and sixth respectively. Verstappen finished half a second clear of Ricciardo, who reported a problem with his DRS that cost him lap time.

Haas was able to lead the midfield fight once again in qualifying as Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean finished seventh and eighth respectively. Charles Leclerc continued his good form for Sauber, reaching Q3 for the second time in the last three races en route to P9, beating Force India's Esteban Ocon in the final session to leave the Frenchman P10.

Nico Hulkenberg finished as the lead Renault works driver in qualifying, taking P11 after falling less than one-tenth of a second short of advancing to Q3. He edged out former teammate Sergio Perez, who took 12th for Force India.

Fernando Alonso had another qualifying to forget as he finished 13th for McLaren, while Pierre Gasly finished two-tenths of a second behind for Toro Rosso in 14th. Marcus Ericsson was unable to match Sauber teammate Leclerc for pace, ending up P15.

Carlos Sainz Jr. dropped out in Q1 for the first time this season after hitting traffic on his final flying lap, leaving him six-hundredths of a second shy of a place in the next session in P16. McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne continued his poor run of form by dropping out in Q1 for the third weekend in a row, ending the session 17th, more than six-tenths of a second behind Sainz.

Williams had a home qualifying to forget as Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll finished 18th and 19th respectively, with the latter spinning into the gravel at Brooklands and causing a red flag period early in the session. Sirotkin also had an off-track moment, almost beaching his car at Stowe before getting back onto the track, although he could only finish down in 18th.

Brendon Hartley propped up the timesheets for Toro Rosso in P20 after failing to take part in qualifying following his practice crash earlier in the day.