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52 HA MILTON was over three- tenths quicker than Rosberg, but no one else could get within a second of the world champion. Red Bull were the Silver Arrows' nearest rivals, with Max Ver- stappen third and Daniel Ric- ciardo fourth. Kimi Raikkonen out-qualified Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel in fifth and sixth re- spectively, with the latter set to drop five grid places for a gearbox change. Valtteri Bot- tas was seventh for Williams, with Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and McLaren's Fernando Alonso completing the top ten. Sauber's Marcus Ericsson did not participate in qualif ying fol- lowing his heav y crash in final practice. The Swede climbed unaided from his wrecked car and was taken to hospital for routine medical checks. Though he was subsequently declared okay by his team, he did not re- turn to the circuit in time for the session. The afternoon's opening Q1 phase saw Jenson Button's hopes dashed right at the end of Q1. As the British driver sat helpless waiting for McLaren to remedy a loose rear wing, faster runs by Renault's Kevin Magnussen and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kv yat eased him down to 17th on 1m 32.788s, just 0.059s slower than the Russian. Button's compatriot Jolyon Palmer also failed to make it through to Q2, the Renault rac- er's 1m 32.905s being two-tenths off his Danish team mate's time. Rio Haryanto just edged out Manor partner Pascal Wehrlein, with 1m 33.098s to 1m 33.151s, as Felipe Nasr struggled to 1m 33.544s in the sole Sauber to run. As Hamilton headed Rosberg by 0.727s in Q2 and Raikkonen made a meal of taking sixth place after a spin at Club and an off at Turn 3, Sainz's late im- provement to eighth pushed Ser- gio Perez out of Q3. The Mexi- can had lapped his Force India in 1m 31.875s. Behind him, Fe- lipe Massa struggled to 12th on 1m 32.002s for Williams, just ahead of Romain Grosjean on 1m 32.050s for Haas. His team mate, Esteban Gutierrez was next on 1m 32.241s, followed by Kv yat on 1m 32.306s and Mag- nussen on 1m 37.060s. Hamilton again beat Ros- berg on their first runs in Q3, with 1m 29.339s to 1m 29.606s, but then came sensation as the stewards decided that two wheels over the kerb at Copse was a track limits violation and docked the Englishman's time. It all came down to the last runs. And Hamilton rose to the chal- lenge, going faster still with 1m 29.287s as Rosberg's response was a slower time, 1m 29.715s. The crowd were very happy. Verstappen again bettered Ric- ciardo, 1m 30.313s to 1m 30.618s - the Dutchman had a slower lap of 1m 30.925s deleted for a track limits violation in Copse - as Raikkonen took fifth with 1m 30.881s ahead of subdued partner Vettel, on 1m 31.490s. Bottas was seventh on 1m 31.557s, ahead of Hulkenberg on 1m 32.172s (a 1m 31.920s was deleted for running wide at Copse), Sainz on 1m 31.989s and Alonso on 1m 32.343s after the Spaniard had a lap of 1m 31.687s disallowed, again for exceeding track limits at Copse. Thus with penalties applied, the provisional grid lines up as follows: Hamilton, Rosberg; Verstappen, Ricciardo; Raik- konen Bottas; Hulkenberg, Sainz; Alonso, Perez; Vettel, Massa; Grosjean, Gutierrez; Kv yat, Magnussen; Button, Palmer; Haryanto. maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 JULY 2016 Sport FORMULA 1 Qualifying results - 2016 British Formula 1 Grand Prix Pos. Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps 1. L. Hamilton Mercedes 01:30.739 01:29.243 01:29.287 14 2. N. Rosberg Mercedes 01:30.724 01:29.970 01:29.606 14 3. M. Verstappen Red Bull 01:31.305 01:30.697 01:30.313 12 4. D. Ricciardo Red Bull 01:31.684 01:31.319 01:30.618 12 5. K. Raikkonen Ferrari 01:31.326 01:31.385 01:30.881 15 6. S. Vettel Ferrari 01:31.606 01:30.711 01:31.490 17 7. V. Bottas Williams 01:31.913 01:31.478 01:31.557 12 8. C. Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 01:32.115 01:31.708 01:31.989 18 9. N. Hulkenberg Force India 01:32.349 01:31.770 01:32.172 15 10. F. Alonso McLaren 01:32.281 01:31.740 01:32.343 15 11. S. Perez Force India 01:32.336 01:31.875 12 12. F. Massa Williams 01:32.146 01:32.002 10 13. R. Grosjean Haas 01:32.283 01:32.050 14 14. E. Gutiérrez Haas 01:32.237 01:32.241 14 15. D. Kvyat Toro Rosso 01:32.553 01:32.306 12 16. K. Magnussen Renault 01:32.729 01:37.060 12 17. J. Button McLaren 01:32.788 3 18. J. Palmer Renault 01:32.905 9 19. R. Haryanto Manor 01:33.098 9 20. P. Wehrlein Manor 01:33.151 9 21. F. Nasr Sauber 01:33.544 8 Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes unstoppable at Silverstone The first of his two Q3 lap times was deleted for exceeding track limits, but the second was good enough to give Lewis Hamilton pole position for the 2016 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, as he and Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg dominated Saturday's qualifying Lewis Hamilton