Qualifying - British GP report: Pirelli

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has taken another pole position on home territory, using the soft tyre to set a time that was the fastest ever seen on the current 5.891-kilometre Silverstone configuration.

Conditions were cool and overcast for qualifying, with ambient and track temperatures that reached only 22 and 27 degrees centigrade. During free practice in the morning there was some light rain, with both Cinturato intermediates and full wets seen on a damp track, which eventually dried enough for slicks to be used.

The soft tyre was used right from the beginning of Q1 for nearly all the drivers: the softest compound available, seen for the first time at the high-energy Silverstone circuit.

A two-stop strategy is set to be the optimal choice for the race tomorrow if conditions remain dry – which is far from guaranteed, using the soft and the medium tyre. As is often the case, there are also other strategy permutations that could help to boost track position.

Hamilton already broke the absolute lap record at the end of Q2 on the soft tyre, which is the compound that the top 10 will all start with tomorrow. He wasn’t quite as quick in the final Q3 shoot-out, setting a pole time of 1m29.287, which was still a full three seconds faster than last year’s equivalent.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “A day of mixed conditions again, which is typical of Silverstone and could well be the case again tomorrow. This is why the data gathered in all these different conditions up to now is likely to be very useful. We’ve seen some absolutely stunning pace with the soft compound in particular, while the medium looks like it’s going to be the favoured race tyre, using a two-stop strategy.”