SILVERSTONE: Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton gave the British Grand Prix crowd what they wanted by powering to pole position in a one-two with Mercedes team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg on Saturday.

The pole was Hamilton’s eighth in nine races and the 46th of his career for the championship leader, who took a home win at Silverstone last year and has a 10 point advantage over the German.

Brazilian Felipe Massa qualified a strong third for Williams, ahead of Finnish team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel lining up together on the third row.

Russian Daniil Kvyat was seventh for Red Bull ahead of Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso, German Nico Hulkenberg of Force India and Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull.

But there was more misery for McLaren. Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion still searching for a triumph at his home race, was eliminated in the first round of qualifying along with Fernando Alonso, who qualified only one place higher in 17th.

Hamilton’s first flying lap in the final phase of qualifying proved good enough for pole, with Rosberg complaining afterwards that there was a problem with the left front wheel of his car.

“It’s a special day,” said the Briton, now third on the all-time list of pole-setters behind Michael Schumacher and the late Ayrton Senna.

Champions Mercedes have now taken 20 poles in a row, four short of Williams’ all-time record set in 1992-93.

The 30-year-old saved the best for last, struggling on Friday when Rosberg was fastest. He was only fourth fastest in the opening phase of qualifying and third in the second with the German again ahead of him in both.

“There was something wrong on my left front,” Rosberg said. “We need to look at what it was.”

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2015

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