Hamilton quickest, Rosberg 2nd, in crash-hit final practice

After missing out on pole for the British Grand Prix Rosberg was one again asked about the topic which has dominated the build-up to this weekend’s race and revealed a slightly altered mindset. We just get on with our job, there’s a long way to go and I will try to not to be in that position again and I can’t speak for him, but I’m sure Nico will do the same.

But his time was controversially chalked off by the stewards after he was found guilty of placing all four wheels of his Mercedes off the track at the ultra-fast Copse corner.

Hamilton revealed afterwards that he enjoys racing on his home Silverstone track so much that he screams aloud while he is whizzing around the circuit.

“If I was having an argument with someone I would feel less comfortable because I don’t like confrontations”.

Rosberg leads the championship with 153 points, 11 ahead of Hamilton on 142, but both know that Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, on 96, represent a serious threat to their hopes.

Kyvat started the year as Ricciardo’s teammate at Red Bull but was dropped in favour of Verstappen after a scrappy start to the season.

Hamilton had provisional pole after putting together a brilliant lap in the third qualifying session, but he had his time of 1:29.339 deleted due to the zero tolerance policy. The crowd were very happy.

Hamilton has made clear he is against team orders and is concerned at how such a decision would be seen by the fans at Silverstone, if he is not allowed to race Rosberg. “And really I haven’t thought about it beyond that”, Mallya said Friday evening here at the team bosses’ media interaction. “It is still all to play for”. Motorsport’s ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA), said Rosberg exceeded the permitted maximum time between two safety vehicle lines at the start of Q1. “If you look at the overtaking manoeuvres since I was eight years old, I guess 99 per cent have been clean, which in 23 years is pretty decent”.

Elsewhere, Jenson Button’s Silverstone hoodoo continued after he was knocked out of qualifying at the first hurdle.

Button’s compatriot Jolyon Palmer also failed to make it through to Q2, the Renault racer’s 1m 32.905s being two-tenths off his Danish team mate’s time.

Behind the Mercedes front row and Red Bull second row, it’s a disappointing qualifying for Ferrari, with Raikkonen in fifth and Vettel qualifying in sixth, although he’ll start in 11th after another five-place penalty for a new gearbox for the second race running.