Great Britain – Qualifying: Rosberg between the raindrops, the Ferraris underwater

Q1: The qualifications for the British Grand Prix start on a wet track with unpredictable weather. All the drivers are quickly out on the track, except for the two Williams of Massa and Bottas. The cars set off on intermediate wet tires, but these wear quickly: they overheat and slip in the corners with dry lines.

4 minutes from the end, some drivers attempt a run on slick tires. Gutiérrez is the first to set the fastest time with his new set of tires. Everyone goes out again with white-walled tires to set a new time. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to get a clear lap with so many cars on the track. A yellow flag at the end of the session, in the last sector, catches Q3 contenders off guard, including Williams and Ferrari.

Kvyat sets the fastest time with his Toro Rosso in 1:41.032.

Eliminated in Q1: Bottas, Massa, Alonso, Räikkönen, Ericsson, Kobayashi

Q2: For the second session, the drivers go out again on intermediate tires. The Mercedes and Red Bull are very fast in these conditions, but the best time set by Vettel is canceled because he went off the track outside a turn. The fastest lap on intermediate tires is set by Hamilton at 1:44.639.

The track dries again and with less than 8 minutes left in the session, the drivers begin to switch to slick tires. With 4 minutes to go, the lap times start dropping significantly. The drivers push hard and many make mistakes by going off the racing line due to the tricky conditions. Less competitive cars like the Marussias benefit from the leveling of performances because of the weather and are fighting with the best until the very last moments.

In the last minute, Gutiérrez’s Sauber went off the track and caused a yellow flag. Hamilton set the fastest time with 1:41.058 in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

Eliminated in Q2: Grosjean, Bianchi, Chilton, Gutiérrez, Maldonado, and Sutil, who did not participate in Q2 following his off-road incident in the previous session.

Q3: Unlike the other two sessions, the drivers go out directly on slick tires. The times are faster than Q2, but the rain starts to fall again. The last sector is very tricky. With 6 minutes remaining, no one can improve in these conditions, and everyone returns to the pits.

Seven drivers attempt a final lap, including Vettel, who had not set a time until now. Contrary to expectations, the times drop, and Pérez sets a provisional fastest lap before being edged out at the last moment by the rest of the pack. Hamilton secures a disappointing 6th place due to a poor choice in his final fast lap. Hülkenberg (4th) and Button (3rd) are the surprises at the front, and Vettel secures an impressive second-fastest time behind Rosberg, at 1:35.766.