GP Gran Bretagna, prove del sabato–15/07/2017
Hamilton cleared of blocking Grosjean, keeps British GP pole
Lewis Hamilton will keep his pole position for Formula 1’s British Grand Prix after being cleared of blocking Romain Grosjean in Q3 at Silverstone.
Grosjean was left furious after feeling that he had been impeded by Hamilton on the left-hand turn into Club as he finished his first run in the final shootout session.
The Haas team suspected Grosjean had lost around three tenths of a second in the incident and would have beaten Stoffel Vandoorne to ninth place.
Although the race stewards launched an investigation into the matter, their analysis of the situation was that while Hamilton had got in Grosjean’s way, he had not cost the Frenchman anything.
A statement issued by the FIA said: "The stewards examined video and telemetry evidence and concluded that while GRO may potentially have been affected by the presence of HAM at Turn 16, he was not impeded."
Prior to the stewards’ decision, Hamilton had already apologised to Grosjean and claimed he had received no warning from his Mercedes team over the radio that the Haas driver was approaching him.
"I was coming around to start my lap, Valtteri [Bottas] up ahead, I was trying to get the space," said Hamilton.
"Behind me was one of the Force Indias, who then came in, so there was no one behind me.
"Literally as I was about to get on the gas I looked in the mirror and saw a car, and I tried to get going.
"I don’t know if I got in the way, if I did I apologise.
"I had no indication from the team that anyone was coming. I need to look at the footage.
"I don’t think he was that close when I pulled away, but I will have a look."
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m26.600s | – |
| 2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m27.147s | 0.547s |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m27.356s | 0.756s |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m28.130s | 1.530s |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m28.856s | 2.256s |
| 6 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m28.902s | 2.302s |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1m29.074s | 2.474s |
| 8 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | 1m29.418s | 2.818s |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m27.376s | 0.776s |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m29.549s | 2.949s |
| 11 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m30.193s | – |
| 12 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m30.355s | – |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m31.368s | – |
| 14 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m31.482s | – |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1m42.573s | – |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1m42.577s | – |
| 17 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m42.593s | – |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m42.633s | – |
| 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m42.966s | – |
| 20 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m30.600s | – |
British Grand Prix practice: Lewis Hamilton pips Sebastian Vettel
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in final practice for the British Grand Prix, beating Formula 1 championship rival Sebastian Vettel by just 0.032 seconds on Saturday morning.
With the session commencing with an 80% chance of rain, most drivers opted to get out on track early on before the bad weather had chance to hit, which it finally did in the final 20 minutes.
Valtteri Bottas, who has been hit by a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, led the way in the opening runs on soft tyres, setting an early benchmark of 1m28.827s in the first 10 minutes.
His Mercedes team-mate Hamilton then took the top spot with a 1m28.747s on the yellow-marked rubber, which stood as the best time until he put on super-soft tyres just shy of the halfway mark and set a 1m28.063s to go seven tenths clear of the pack.
Bottas was only able to come within 0.151s of Hamilton on his first run on super-softs, and it was Ferrari driver Vettel who emerged as the three-time champion’s closest rival as he slotted into second, just 0.032s adrift.
With the rain arriving 15 minutes later, Hamilton’s effort stood as the best time of the session – and the weekend so far – with Vettel staying second and Bottas improving marginally to complete a top three covered by just 0.074s.
Kimi Raikkonen was fourth-fastest in the second Ferrari, a full 0.669s behind Hamilton on the super-soft tyres, and nearly eight tenths up on fifth-placed Nico Hulkenberg in the Renault.
Best of the Red Bull drivers was Daniel Ricciardo in sixth, 1.549s slower than Hamilton, followed by the Haas of Romain Grosjean and Max Verstappen, whose best time was set on softs.
Verstappen did attempt a super-soft run, but left it too late and was caught out by the rain, running off-track at Brooklands and quickly returning to the pits.
Felipe Massa’s Williams and Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren completed the top 10, Vandoorne eclipsing team-mate Fernando Alonso by 0.050s.
Besides Verstappen, the only other drivers not to set their best time on super-softs were Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr, who was 17th-fastest, and the second Williams of Lance Stroll, who propped up the timesheets, 1.4s slower than Massa.
All drivers headed out in the closing stages of the session on intermediate tyres, an extra set of them having been supplied by Pirelli for the session.
A handful of late incidents showed how tricky conditions had become – Ricciardo spinning but avoiding the wall exiting Club and Marcus Ericsson pirouetting on the approach to Vale.
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m28.063s | – | 18 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m28.095s | 0.032s | 14 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m28.137s | 0.074s | 20 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m28.732s | 0.669s | 15 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m29.480s | 1.417s | 14 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m29.612s | 1.549s | 15 |
| 7 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m29.819s | 1.756s | 14 |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m29.904s | 1.841s | 13 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m29.959s | 1.896s | 19 |
| 10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | 1m30.088s | 2.025s | 19 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m30.138s | 2.075s | 17 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1m30.172s | 2.109s | 19 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1m30.270s | 2.207s | 15 |
| 14 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m30.302s | 2.239s | 16 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m30.416s | 2.353s | 16 |
| 16 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m30.504s | 2.441s | 20 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m30.515s | 2.452s | 19 |
| 18 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m30.621s | 2.558s | 24 |
| 19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m30.630s | 2.567s | 24 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1m31.358s | 3.295s | 18 |
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