British Grand Prix Qualifying results: Hamilton leads Mercedes front row

The British Grand Prix will start with Lewis Hamilton leading the Mercedes front row ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas. They finished .7 of a second ahead of closest challenger, Max Verstappen.

The Mercedes drivers were not dominating the practice sessions ahead of the British Grand Prix and it seemed like some of the other teams could prove competitive. However, a little bit of sandbagging became evident when Mercedes dominated today's Qualifying session.

In Q1, Lando Norris spun off the track and momentarily delayed the session. However, it was very clear that the Mercedes drivers were head and shoulders above the rest right from the first flying lap. Bottas finished the session ahead of Hamilton, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen a distant third.

Williams driver Nicholas Latifi spun in the closing seconds, causing a yellow flag to be waved. His teammate George Russel is currently under investigation for not slowing down enough for the yellow flag.

Lafiti ended up last but his accident might have also cost Kimi Raikkonen his final flying lap. However, there is little hope that the Alfa Romeo could have improved significantly, considering how low they have been qualifying all season. The five drivers who were eliminated at the end of Q1 were:

Lewis Hamilton ran into some trouble in Q2 by spinning off the track. He left a large amount of gravel on the track, forcing the stewards to red flag the session with 9 minutes remaining. Once the green light was back on, it was business as usual for the Mercedes drivers up front. Ferrari will be happy to have both their drivers make it into Q3 for the first time this season.

Meanwhile, Alex Albon ended up in 12th place, significantly lower than his teammate. He will be under more pressure to perform this weekend if he wants to keep his seat. Nico Hulkenberg, who is filling in for Sergio Perez at Racing Point following the latter's COVID-19 diagnosis, won't be happy with his result either. Hulk only made it as far as 13th place in what could be his only opportunity to prove that he still deserves a seat in F1.

The Mercedes drivers were a full second quicker than the rest of the field at the end of Q2 and they kept a huge gap all the way until the end. Hamilton got over his little incident in Q2 to secure pole. Bottas will be starting beside him while Red Bull's Verstappen will be waiting just behind them.

Ferrari driver Charles LeClerc will be happy to start at 4th after starting in the midfield for the first three races. His teammate Sebastian Vettel, who has been dropped by Ferrari for next season, will be unhappy with 10th place after he got his final time deleted for veering off-track.

Here's the full starting grid for the British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit: