Lewis Hamilton smashes the Silverstone track record as he makes his way to pole for the 2020 F1 British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton qualifies in pole position for the 2020 F1 British Grand Prix with Valterri Bottas alongside him and Max Verstappen qualified third.

Q1

The first qualifying session got underway at Silverstone with Mercedes looking to get a front-row start for the eighth time.

Kimi Raikkonen was the first driver out of the garage as his Alfo Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi followed him.

The Finn was the first to set a timed lap with a 1:27.941 with Giovinazzi going one-hundredth faster than his teammate.

The two Haas went one-tenth faster than the Alfa Romeo’s but Daniil Kvyat then went a second faster than Kevin Magnussen.

With five minutes left in the first qualifying session, Valtteri Bottas was first with a time of 1:26.092. Lewis Hamilton was second fastest, one-tenth behind his teammate, and Max Verstappen was third.

The drivers who were knocked out of Q1 were Kevin Magnussen, Antonio Giovinazzi, Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean and Nicholas Latifi.

At the top of the timings, Bottas was P1 after a 1:25.801, Hamilton was P2 and Verstappen in P3.

Q2

The second qualifying session got underway swiftly after the end of the Q1 session.

Alex Albon was the first driver out of the pits with Nico Hulkenburg following the Thai driver. The German replaces Sergio Perez who tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday and is currently isolating.

The Red Bull driver set the first time of the session with a 1:25.580 with Verstappen going into the low 1:26’s but Bottas smashed the lap record with a 1:25.015.

Hamilton spun round and kicked up a load of dust and gravel which red-flagged the session temporarily.

The session was then restarted after the gravel was swept up by the stewards and the drivers were able to get back onto the track.

With five minutes left, Bottas was first with a time of 1:25.015, Hamilton was three-tenths back in second and Verstappen was 1.1 seconds slower than Bottas in third.

The drivers out of Q2 were Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenburg, George Russel and Daniil Kvyat.

At the top, we saw Valterri Bottas in first, Lewis Hamilton in second and Max Verstappen in third place.

Q3

The top ten shootout began with the Mercedes drivers looking the strongest in a class of their own.

The first driver out on the track was Lando Norris with the British driver looking to get some clean air. Carlos Sainz followed his teammate out onto the track.

Norris set a time of 1:26.456 with his McLaren teammate two-tenths down on Norris. Hamilton then went onto smash Bottas’ lap record with a 1:24.616.

With five minutes left, Hamilton was first, Bottas in second and Verstappen in third.

Hamilton goes even faster with a 1:24.303 as he out-qualifies his teammate by three-tenths.

The final grid looked like this: Lewis Hamilton on pole, Valtteri Bottas in P2, Max Verstappen in P3, Charles Leclerc in P4, Lando Norris in P5, Lance Stroll in P6, Carlos Sainz in P7, Daniel Ricciardo in P8, Esteban Ocon in P9 and Sebastian Vettel rounded off the top 10.

Pierre Gasly will start in P11, Alex Albon in P12, Nico Hulkenburg in P13, Daniil Kvyat qualified in P14 but will have a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. George Russell qualified P15 but stewards will see if he did not slow down for waved yellow flags. Kevin Magnussen in P16, Antonio Giovinazzi in P17, Kimi Raikkonen in P18, Romain Grosjean in P19 and Nicholas Latifi in P20.