British Grand Prix qualifying: Hamilton breaks records in Silverstone sun

The British Grand Prix's qualifying session was scheduled for 2pm - one hour before England took on Sweden in their World Cup quarter-final. There was only one Englishman on the grid, though, and he must have been thinking about the chances of watching the match.

(Of course, there's also a Swede on the grid - but Sauber's Marcus Ericsson is not likely to be challenging for pole.)

Hamilton will have been irritated with Williams' Lance Stroll, flying backwards into the gravel and bringing out the red flag, delaying the session after just four minutes.

Once they got under way again, Stroll's team-mate Sergey Sirotkin took a trip off the track too, bringing out the yellow flags in exactly the same place but managing to get things under control once more. Still, at least they had a nominally more successful afternoon than Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley, who had a horrible smash in final practice and didn't take part in qualifying.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was in no mood to mess around, though, setting a new track record on his soft tyres.

Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas tucked in behind him, taking P2 and P3 respectively, and both on mediums.

Hamilton was first out on track as the clock ticked nearer and nearer to kick-off, and logged himself the fastest lap - only after Vettel and Bottas had already clocked times they thought would secure them P1.

Though colleague Vandoorne had deemed the McLaren "undriveable" this weekend, Fernando Alonso continued to push, but utlimately unsuccessfully. It was a shock to see Sergio Perez's Force India drop out, though, although Esteban Ocon managed to squeak through.

Hamilton thought he'd done enough with his first lap after he saw Vettel run slightly wide in the last turn, but the German's early speed was enough, edging to provisional pole by just 0.057 seconds.

The Brit logged his next hot lap - 0.044 seconds quicker than Vettel - and the German just didn't have anything left in reserve to challenge him. As the official F1 Twitter account pointed out, that number was fairly appropriate - Hamilton's car number is 44.

Yes, OK, so it's going to be either a Mercedes or a Ferrari in pole, with Red Bull lagging behind those two teams. Hamilton will be looking to win his home race, of course, but Vettel would love to extend his championship lead by taking points off his rival in Britain. The Haases look pretty handy as well and could be a good outside pick for the podium should there be any retirements.

Carlos Sainz's less-than-impressive departure in Q1 was a little surprising. He'll be looking to make more of a mark in the race.

Charles Leclerc is driving absolutely brilliantly lately - what a revelation. If his Sauber can last the distance there's no reason he shouldn't manage a top 10 finish.

Hamilton - Verstappen - Vettel