Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel achieved his 46th career pole position in Formula 1 with a superb performance in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion was the only driver to lap the Marina Bay street circuit in less than one minute, 44  seconds in qualifying, and he ends an unbroken run of 23 consecutive races of P1 slot for Mercedes.

The championship-winning team has struggled to be competitive so far in Singapore, and the best Lewis Hamilton could manage was the fifth quickest time, a massive 1.415 seconds adrift of Vettel.

Hamilton would later say it was down to the tyres. Not surprising following the controversy post-race at the Italian Grand Prix…

Vettel set the pace throughout Q2 and Q3, and found 0.4 seconds between his first and second runs in the top ten shootout to secure Scuderia Ferrari’s first pole position since the 2012 German Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo was second quickest for Red Bull, 0.543 seconds further back, while Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was third, just ahead of the Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat.

Nico Rosberg rounded out the top six, 0.115 seconds slower than his Mercedes team-mate Hamilton.

The Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen made just a single run in Q3, but he managed to split the Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas in seventh and Felipe Massa in ninth.

The teenager was only 0.122 seconds slower than Bottas, but 0.279 seconds quicker than Massa.

Romain Grosjean’s Lotus completed the top ten, nearly four tenths adrift of Massa’s Williams.

Others with hope of making the pole position shootout were scuppered by Carlos Sainz Jr striking the wall heavily at Turn 19 in his Toro Rosso, which brought out yellow flags and spoiled the end of Q2.

However, Force India reckoned Q3 was just beyond its drivers regardless.

Nico Hulkenberg improved a bit on his first run, but his one minute, 46.305 seconds lap was only good enough for P11, while team-mate Sergio Perez was bumped to P13 by the McLaren of Fernando Alonso.

Sainz wound up a lowly P14 on account of his error, yet 0.125 seconds faster than Jenson Button, who felt he had too much understeer.

A last-gasp effort from Button earlier in Q1 meant both Sauber drivers failed to progress past the first stage of qualifying.

Felipe Nasr looked set to make it through in the heavily revised C34, but he ended up 0.054 seconds shy of the cut-off.

The Sauber driver will start P16, 0.083 seconds quicker than team-mate Marcus Ericsson.

The Lotus of Pastor Maldonado was 0.225 seconds adrift in P17, but well ahead of the Manor Marussias.

Alexander Rossi, making his Formula 1 debut this Singapore Grand Prix weekend, led team-mate Will Stevens after the first runs in Q1, but the American ended up half a second adrift, thanks to a substantial improvement from Stevens at the end.

So a refreshing grid order for the race. With Ferrari and Red Bull in the mix. A non-Mercedes front row for quite some time but the speed of the Silver Arrows can never be discounted. Can Vettel win his third race this season or will we see Ricciardo scoring a top result? We shall find out on race day in Marina Bay.

Singapore Grand Prix, qualifying results:

1    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1m43.885s
2    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    1m44.428s
3    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1m44.667s
4    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    1m44.745s
5    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1m45.300s
6    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1m45.415s
7    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m45.676s
8    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m45.798s
9    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    1m46.077s
10    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    1m46.413s
11    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m46.305s
12    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    1m46.328s
13    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1m46.385s
14    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m46.894s
15    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1m47.019s
16    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m46.965s
17    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m47.088s
18    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    1m47.323s
19    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    1m51.021s
20    Alexander Rossi    Marussia-Ferrari    1m51.523s

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton achieved his 40th career Formula 1 victory at Monza despite late drama which affected his team-mate Nico Rosberg in a fiery retirement.

The Mercedes driver made a clean getaway to lead away from pole, while Rosberg slipped back to sixth. As for Kimi Raikkonen, it was a dreadful start as his Ferrari made a really slow start from the front row.

Hamilton dominated the race from there, but with a few laps remaining, he was told by his team that he needed to push without being given a reason for doing so.

Hamilton did as he was told and took the chequered flag with a 25-second lead over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

After the race Mercedes was referred to the race stewards because its tyres were measured below Pirelli’s 19.5psi guideline on the grid just before the Italian Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, there was more drama for Mercedes as Rosberg’s engine expired with a few laps to go when he was running third and catching Vettel.

It was the first mechanical retirement for Mercedes this season and comes after Rosberg had to revert to an old-spec power unit, which had done six races, after an issue with his upgraded engine.

It means Hamilton, who secured his seventh win of the season, now leads Rosberg by 53 points in the championship with seven races left.

Felipe Massa inherited third, with his Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas fourth and Raikkonen fifth after a strong recovery drive.

Force India’s B-spec car continued to impress with Sergio Perez following up his fifth place finish at Spa with sixth at Monza, one position clear of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.

It moved the Silverstone-based team back ahead of Lotus into fifth place in the constructors’ championship, after the Enstone-based team’s race lasted just a couple of laps.

Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado both suffered contact at Turn 1, with Grosjean pulling off track and Maldonado recovering to the pits and parking the car in the garage.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo recovered from starting P19 after a 25-place grid penalty for changing engine elements to finish eighth with team-mate Daniil Kvyat tenth.

Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson scored points for the third successive race with ninth.

Carlos Sainz Jr just missed out of points in P11, one position ahead of Toro Rosso team-mate Max Verstappen, who started last and had to serve a drive-through penalty as punishment for his team releasing his car without its bodywork secure in qualifying, P12.

Felipe Nasr was P13 for Sauber ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button, who made a superb start to rise from P15 to ninth before dropping back.

The Manors of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi brought up the rear with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso retired with three laps to go.

Italian Grand Prix, race results after 53 laps:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1:18:00.688
2    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari     +25.042s
3    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes     +47.635s
4    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     +47.996s
5    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari     +68.860s
6    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes     +72.783s
7    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    +1 lap
8    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault     +1 lap
9    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari     +1 lap
10    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault     +1 lap
11    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault     +1 lap
12    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault     +1 lap
13    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari      +1 lap
14    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda     +1 lap
15    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari     +2 laps
16    Roberto Merhi    Marussia-Ferrari     +2 laps
17    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    DNF
18    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda   DNF
–    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    DNF
–    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes   DNF

Drivers’ standings:

1    Lewis Hamilton    252
2    Nico Rosberg    199
3    Sebastian Vettel    178
4    Felipe Massa    97
5    Kimi Raikkonen    92
6    Valtteri Bottas    91
7    Daniil Kvyat    58
8    Daniel Ricciardo    55
9    Romain Grosjean    38
10    Sergio Perez    33
11    Nico Hulkenberg    30
12    Max Verstappen    26
13    Felipe Nasr    16
14    Pastor Maldonado    12
15    Fernando Alonso    11
16    Carlos Sainz    9
17    Marcus Ericsson    9
18    Jenson Button    6
19    Roberto Merhi    0
20    Will Stevens    0

Constructors’ standings:

1    Mercedes    451
2    Ferrari    270
3    Williams-Mercedes    188
4    Red Bull-Renault    113
5    Force India-Mercedes    63
6    Lotus-Mercedes    50
7    Toro Rosso-Renault    35
8    Sauber-Ferrari    25
9    McLaren-Honda    17
10    Marussia-Ferrari    0

Qualifying positions, Monza:

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton produced a masterclass display at Spa-Francorchamps to record victory number 39 and thereby extending his lead in the championship from Nico Rosberg to 28 points.

The Mercedes driver made a good start from the grid and held off the challenge from Sergio Perez in the Force India at Les Combes to lead.

Rosberg was slow off the grid, dropping down to fifth, and though he recovered to second and started closing the gap to Hamilton, he was unable to get close enough to challenge.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was on course to complete the podium, after attempting a one-stop strategy that required a 29-lap stint on the mediums, but a right-rear tyre failure with a few laps to go ended his race.

That allowed Romain Grosjean, who had been chasing Vettel, to give Lotus its first podium of the season – a big boost considering uncertain future and legal battles inside the team.

The start was initially aborted when Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg suffered mechanical issues on the grid, waving his hands to signal he would be unable to get away.

The field went round for a second formation lap while Hulkenberg was pushed into the pits where he retired the car.

At the second start, the field got away with Perez battling Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo into La Source and coming out on top to take second.

Red Bull ran its low downforce setting at Spa, which allowed Daniil Kvyat and Ricciardo to attack on the straights.

Kvyat charged to fourth after going out of sequence on tyre strategy, but last year’s winner Ricciardo was in contention for a podium, running third early on, before slowing and retiring on the exit of the Bus Stop. A brief virtual safety car was required while the Red Bull was taken away.

Perez secured his best result of the season with fifth in the Force India ahead of Williams’s Felipe Massa and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who rescued some points after starting P16.

Max Verstappen tried a move on Raikkonen at Les Combes on the last lap but ran out of space and had to settle for eighth, ahead of Valtteri Bottas, whose race unravelled when Williams mistakenly fitted his car with three soft tyres and a medium, which earned him a drive-through penalty.

Sauber fitted the 2015-spec Ferrari engine to its cars for the first time this season with Marcus Ericsson benefiting from Vettel’s late tyre failure to snatch the final point with tenth, one position ahead of team-mate Felipe Nasr.

Vettel was classified P12 for his first non-scoring finish of the season.

McLaren’s Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso made brilliant getaways, on a weekend when drivers had to find their own clutch bite point under new rules.

Alonso climbed from last to P12 while Button rose from P19 to P14, but duo struggled on the high-speed Spa circuit and finished P13 and P14 respectively.

Carlos Sainz Jr pulled into the pits after the formation lap, citing a loss of power, and though Toro Rosso managed to get him going, he retired with 11 laps to go.

Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado was unable to take advantage of his top ten start as he parked the car early in the race with a mechanical problem.

So another Mercedes one-two with the championship leader winning at Spa-Francorchamps for the first time.

Congratulations to Lotus in scoring a podium finish with Romain Grosjean. Finally a positive result considering the future of the Enstone-based team.

Belgian Grand Prix, race results after 43 laps:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1h23m40.387s
2    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    2.058s
3    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    37.988s
4    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    45.692s
5    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    53.997s
6    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    55.283s
7    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    55.703s
8    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    56.076s
9    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m01.040s
10    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m31.234s
11    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m42.311s
12    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    Tyre
13    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    1 Lap
14    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1 Lap
15    Roberto Merhi    Marussia-Ferrari    1 Lap
16    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    1 Lap
–    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    Retirement
–    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    Retirement
–    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    Retirement
–    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    Not started

Drivers’ standings:

1    Lewis Hamilton    227
2    Nico Rosberg    199
3    Sebastian Vettel    160
4    Kimi Raikkonen    82
5    Felipe Massa    82
6    Valtteri Bottas    79
7    Daniil Kvyat    57
8    Daniel Ricciardo    51
9    Romain Grosjean    38
10    Max Verstappen    26
11    Sergio Perez    25
12    Nico Hulkenberg    24
13    Felipe Nasr    16
14    Pastor Maldonado    12
15    Fernando Alonso    11
16    Carlos Sainz    9
17    Marcus Ericsson    7
18    Jenson Button    6
19    Roberto Merhi    0
20    Will Stevens    0

Constructors’ standings:

1    Mercedes    426
2    Ferrari    242
3    Williams-Mercedes    161
4    Red Bull-Renault    108
5    Lotus-Mercedes    50
6    Force India-Mercedes    49
7    Toro Rosso-Renault    35
8    Sauber-Ferrari    23
9    McLaren-Honda    17
10    Marussia-Ferrari    0

Next race: Italian Grand Prix, Monza. September 4-6.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton achieved his tenth pole of the season at the magnificent Spa-Francorchamps circuit by beating his team-mate Nico Rosberg by quite some margin.

This was Hamilton’s 48th career pole in P1 and his sixth consecutive, matching Michael Schumacher’s record in 2000 and ’01. This achievement also clinched the FIA pole trophy for 2015.

Rosberg was narrowly faster than his team-mate in Q2 at Spa, but the reigning world champion reversed the situation by a massive 0.446 seconds after their respective first runs in Q3, then lowered his lap time to a 1m47.197s on his second run to secure pole.

Valtteri Bottas achieved a solid third for Williams while Romain Grosjean recorded his best-ever qualifying position with fourth. Big shame for the Lotus driver to drop down the grid come race day no thanks to the penalty.

Sergio Perez made it a Mercedes-powered top five for Sauber, showcasing the serious grunt ‘the three-pointed star’ at Spa.

Ferrari would normally be expected to fill row two of the grid, but Sebastian Vettel could only lap ninth fastest in his SF15-T, while team-mate Kimi Raikkonen failed to make it into Q3 at all after his car broke down on track with what the team believes was a loss of oil pressure.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top six, ahead of Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado.

Carlos Sainz Jr’s Toro Rosso completed the top ten, despite well adrift of the rest of the Q3 runners.

Perez had set a solid fourth-best time in Q2, but Nico Hulkenberg failed to make the top ten, finishing up over three tenths adrift of his Force India team-mate in P11.

Daniel Kvyat was another surprise failure in Q2, finishing up P12, ahead of Marcus Ericsson.

As for the ‘king of Spa’ Kimi Raikkonen, The Iceman ended up in P14, ahead of the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen, who took not part in Q2 after suffering a suspected loss of power with his Renault engine in Q1.

Sauber’s Felipe Nasr was the big loser among the tight midfield battle in Q1.

Verstappen’s Toro Rosso was vulnerable thanks to a suspected loss of power early on in his final flying lap, but Nasr fell short of beating the teenager by 0.121 seconds, so wound up P16.

Jenson Button was a second further back in the best of the McLaren-Hondas.

The 2009 world champion described his time of one minute, 50.978 seconds effort as “the best lap I’ve done for a long time”, but it was only good enough for P17…

Team-mate Fernando Alonso was nearly half a second adrift in the other MP4-30, after sitting out the final practice session with an exhaust leak.

Will Stevens won the private battle of the Manor/Marussias at the bottom of the timesheet, beating team-mate Roberto Merhi by 0.151 seconds.

Qualifying times from Spa-Francorchamps:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1m47.197s
2    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1m47.655s
3    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m48.537s
4    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    1m48.561s
5    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1m48.599s
6    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    1m48.639s
7    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    1m48.685s
8    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    1m48.754s
9    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1m48.825s
10    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m49.771s
11    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m49.121s
12    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    1m49.228s
13    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m49.586s
14    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    No time
15    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m49.952s
16    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    1m52.948s
17    Roberto Merhi    Marussia-Ferrari    1m53.099s
18    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    No time
19    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1m50.978s*
20    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    1m51.420s*

*Grid penalties for changing power units

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel achieved his 41st career victory in a thrilling and drama-filled Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg suffered a terrible race despite dominating qualifying.

This was Sebastian’s first win at the Hungaroring and his second this season, bringing the four-time world champion on par with the great, late Ayrton Senna of 41 race victories.

It was also the first time since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix, a run of 29 races, where Mercedes failed to score a podium finish with either car with Hamilton sixth and Rosberg eighth.

This was a messy race for Lewis Hamilton. A poor start from pole position. Running wide at the chicane on the first lap when he felt Rosberg crossed his line and then losing time when he pitted for a new wing and then having to a drive-through penalty after colliding with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

But in defending second with a few laps to go, Rosberg clashed with Ricciardo at Turn 1, giving the Mercedes a puncture and damaging Ricciardo’s front wing.

Rosberg was forced to pit and rejoined in eighth, two positions behind Hamilton who had fought his way back through the field to increase his championship lead to 21 points.

Hamilton and Rosberg got away poorly from the front row at the start, allowing Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen to get ahead, with Rosberg running third ahead of Hamilton.

Ferrari looked on course for its first one-two since the 2010 German Grand Prix before a MGU-K problem cost The Iceman’s power. Raikkonen eventually retired after the team were unable to fix it.

The virtual safety car was called into action when Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India suffered a front wing failure, pitching the German head-on into the tyre barrier at Turn 1.

When it became clear there was too much debris on the track, the real safety car was sent out, bunching the field up and reducing Vettel’s sizeable lead – setting up a thrilling finale.

Daniil Kvyat scored a career-best second, to become the youngest driver to score a podium since Vettel in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, the Russian benefitting from Ricciardo’s clash with Rosberg late on.

Ricciardo survived the contact, which the race stewards decided to take no further action on, with Rosberg to give Red Bull a double podium with third.

Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen, who had a drive-through penalty for making contact with Valtteri Bottas, battled his way up to a career-best fourth place.

The drama in the second-half of the race allowed Fernando Alonso to finish fifth, scoring McLaren-Honda’s best result of the season, with Jenson Button finishing ninth.

Romain Grosjean was seventh in the Lotus while Marcus Ericsson gave Sauber an unlikely point with tenth, a few seconds clear of team-mate Felipe Nasr.

Williams failed to score for only the second time this season, with Massa – who was given a time-penalty for being out of position on the grid and forcing an aborted start – P12 and Bottas P13.

So a dramatic race with Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel. Winning the Hungarian Grand Prix in honour of Jules Bianchi, who sadly passed away last week after losing his fight for survival.

Red Bull Racing scored their first podium finishes with Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo. While McLaren-Honda achieved a double points finish in the hands of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.

Despite a troubled race, Mercedes were able to score points to maintain the lead in the championship.

The sport goes into the summer break and yet it will be fascinating if anyone can catch and challenge the Silver Arrows in the second half of the season.

Hungarian Grand Prix, race result after 69 laps:

1    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1h46m09.985s
2    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    69    +15.748s
3    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    69    +25.084s
4    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    69    +44.251s
5    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    69    +49.079s
6    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    69    +52.025s
7    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    69    +58.578s
8    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    69    +58.876s
9    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    69    +67.028s
10    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    69    +69.130s
11    Felipe Nasr       Sauber-Ferrari    69    +73.458s
12    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    69    +74.278s
13    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    69    +80.228s
14    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    69    +85.142ss
15    Roberto Merhi    Marussia-Ferrari    67    +2 Laps
16    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    65    Retirement
–    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    60    Retirement
–    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    55    Power Unit
–    Sergio Perez    Force India/Mercedes    53    Retirement
–    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India/Mercedes    41    Retirement

Drivers’ standings:

1 Lewis Hamiton 202
2 Nico Rosberg  181
3 Sebastian Vettel 160
4 Valtteri Bottas 77
5 Kimi Raikkonen 76
6 Felipe Massa 74
7 Daniel Ricciardo 51
8 Daniil Kvyat 45
9 Nico Hulkenberg 24
10 Romain Grosjean 23
11 Max Verstappen 22
12 Felipe Nasr 16
13 Sergio Perez 15
14 Pastor Maldonado 12
15 Fernando Alonso 11
16 Carlos Sainz 9
17 Jenson Button 6
18 Marcus Ericsson 6
19 Roberto Merhi 0
20 Will Stevens 0

Constructors’ standings:

1 Mercedes 383
2 Ferrari 236
3 Williams-Mercedes 151
4 Red Bull-Renault 96
5 Force India-Mercedes 39
6 Lotus-Mercedes 35
7 Toro Rosso-Renault 31
8 Sauber-Ferrari 22
9 McLaren-Honda 17
10 Marussia-Ferrari 0

Next race: Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps. August 21-23.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton achieved his 47th career pole position in Formula 1 with a commanding performance at the Hungering. Fastest in every session to take his fifth P1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

His Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg struggled to match his rival’s pace and had to settle with second position. But half a second adrift is a major defeat.

Rosberg complained about the handling of his car throughout the different stages of qualifying and couldn’t recover sufficiently to put up much of a fight.

Hamilton and Rosberg were separated by 0.358 seconds after the first runs in Q3, and the German ended up over half a second adrift of Hamilton, who set the fastest lap of the weekend so far on his final effort to claim his fifth career pole in Hungary.

The expected close fight for best of the rest behind Mercedes materialised, as less than half a second covered Ferrari, Red Bull and Williams in Q2.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ended up taking third on the grid, but was just 0.035 seconds clear of his former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull.

Kimi Raikkonen finished up 0.246 seconds further back in fifth, while Valtteri Bottas took sixth for Williams.

Daniil Kvyat lines up on row four with Felipe Massa, just ahead of Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso, which only made one run in Q3.

Romain Grosjean’s Lotus rounded out the top ten, over half a second adrift of the next fastest car.

Neither Force India made it through to the top ten shootout, along with Carlos Sainz and Pastor Maldonado.

Hulkenberg and Sainz were less than a tenth away from Grosjean’s tenth position Lotus in Q2, while Perez was almost six tenths further back in P13.

McLaren headed into qualifying hoping to challenge for a place in the top ten, but could do no better than P15 and P16 after both drivers encountered technical trouble.

Fernando Alonso made it through to Q2, but stopped at the entry to the pitlane during his first run, bringing out the red flags and ending his session early.

As for his team-mate Jenson Button, an issue with the ERS deployment meant the McLaren driver missing out on the Q2 cut by lapping just over a tenth of a second shy of Sainz’s Toro Rosso.

Button estimated his problem cost him 0.3 seconds on his final flying lap.

The 2009 world champion joined the Saubers and Manors in dropping out during the first phase of qualifying.

Felipe Nasr felt he “lost it in the last two corners” and finished up 0.154 seconds adrift of Sauber team-mate Marcus Ericsson, who felt he drove a good final flying lap in the C34.

Roberto Merhi comfortably out-qualified his team-mate Will Stevens by 0.533 seconds, as the Manor cars filled their usual place on the final row of the grid.

So another front row lock-out for Mercedes. Five pole positions in a row from Lewis Hamilton at this twisty, tight circuit. The championship leader is super fast around the Hungaroring and is the favourite to take victory come race day.

Hungarian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1m22.020s
2    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1m22.595s
3    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1m22.739s
4    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    1m22.774s
5    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1m23.020s
6    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m23.222s
7    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    1m23.332s
8    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    1m23.537s
9    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m23.679s
10    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    1m24.181s
11    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m23.826s
12    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m23.869s
13    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1m24.461s
14    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    1m24.609s
15    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    1m24.563s
16    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1m24.739s
17    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m24.843s
18    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m24.997s
19    Roberto Merhi    Marussia-Ferrari    1m27.416s
20    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    1m27.949s

Home crowd favourite Lewis Hamilton achieved his hat-track of British Grand Prix wins after a thrilling race at Silverstone.

The Mercedes driver recovered from a poor start, gave chase to the Williams duo and made the perfect strategy call on the intermediate tyre to win this race in front of his passionate fans.

Nico Rosberg finished second and was able to pass both Valtteri Bottas and then Felipe Massa, who struggled in the wet conditions after leading the first stint for Williams.

The points gap between the Silver Arrows drivers is now 17.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel benefited from an early switch to the intermediates to leapfrog both Williams as the rain intensified to finish third.

Massa made a superb start from third on the grid, slicing through the middle of the slow-starting Mercedes to take the lead into Abbey, with Bottas slotting into second ahead of Hamilton and Rosberg.

Hamilton reclaimed second with a pass on Bottas into Village, but the race was then neutralised when the safety car was called into action following collisions in the midfield.

The Lotus of Romain Grosjean appeared to tangle with the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, which speared into his team-mate Pastor Maldonado, putting both out of the race.

That incident caused a secondary accident behind with Fernando Alonso taking avoiding action and hitting his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, which put the 2009 champion out of the race and left Alonso needing to pit for a new nose.

At the restart, Hamilton launched an attack on Massa into Club, but ran wide as the Williams defended the lead.

That desperate move allowed Bottas to slip through and take second, with Hamilton having to fend off Rosberg.

Bottas closed on Massa and while the team initially told both drivers to work together, it then allowed Bottas to attack but he could not find a way through.

Hamilton was the first to pit, crucially rejoining in front of the longer-running Force India of Sergio Perez, with Massa and Rosberg pitting together the next time around.

Massa exited his pitbox alongside Rosberg and kept his nose in front on the exit but by then, Hamilton had gone through.

Bottas then pitted and rejoined between Massa and Rosberg, meaning Hamilton inherited the lead. Setting a record of  leading for the 18th race in succession to break Sir Jackie Stewart’s 45-year-old achievement.

The rain added a further headache later, but gave Rosberg a chance to fight pass both Bottas and Massa before closing on Hamilton.

The leader then timed his switch to intermediates perfectly and re-established a gap over Rosberg, who came in one lap later and had to settle for second.

Williams missed the opportunity as the race unravelled when the rain came, with Massa and Bottas struggling for pace and ending up fourth and fifth, jumped by Vettel as Ferrari made an earlier dive for intermediates and then pulled clear.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat was sixth and nearly caught Bottas at the end.

Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez ensured Force India’s B-spec car had a double-points haul on its debut by finishing seventh and ninth respectively, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen splitting the duo, The Iceman losing ground by taking intermediates too soon.

Alonso, who was one of several cars who pitted for intermediate tyres early, scored his first point of the season – after four successive retirements – with tenth for McLaren Honda.

It was a disastrous race for Toro Rosso, which had showed such strong pace early in the British Grand Prix weekend.

Max Verstappen’s weekend ended in the gravel when he spun off on cold tyres after the early safety car came in.

Carlos Sainz Jr was running ninth when he stopped out on track at the final corner, banging the steering wheel in disbelief, with the virtual safety car being called into action briefly as a result.

Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, who ran in the points for much of the race, struggled in the wet conditions and dropped to P11 with Manor’s Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens – who required a late nose change after an off in the wet – the last of the finishers in P12 and P13 respectively.

Ricciardo retired his Red Bull before the half-distance with an electrical problem.

Felipe Nasr did not make the start after the Sauber stopped at Hanger Straight during the reconnaissance laps on the way to the grid. The team was unable to fix his problem in time.

So a dramatic and exciting British Grand Prix. The rain certainly spiced up the action and yet the familiar drivers ends up on the podium with Hamilton winning, Rosberg in runner-up spot and Vettel scoring more points.

British Grand Prix, race result after 52 laps:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1h31m27.729s
2    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    10.956s
3    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    25.443s
4    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    36.839s
5    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m03.194s
6    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    1m03.955s
7    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m18.744s
8    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1 Lap
9    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1 Lap
10    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    1 Lap
11    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1 Lap
12    Roberto Merhi    Marussia-Ferrari    3 Laps
13    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    3 Laps
–    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    Retirement
–    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    Retirement
–    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    Spun off
–    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    Collision
–    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    Collision
–    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    Collision
–    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    Not started

Drivers’ standings:

1    Lewis Hamilton    194
2    Nico Rosberg    177
3    Sebastian Vettel    135
4    Valtteri Bottas    77
5    Kimi Raikkonen    76
6    Felipe Massa    74
7    Daniel Ricciardo    36
8    Daniil Kvyat    27
9    Nico Hulkenberg    24
10    Romain Grosjean    17
11    Felipe Nasr    16
12    Sergio Perez    15
13    Pastor Maldonado    12
14    Max Verstappen    10
15    Carlos Sainz    9
16    Marcus Ericsson    5
17    Jenson Button    4
18    Fernando Alonso    1
19    Roberto Merhi    0
20    Will Stevens    0

Constructors’ standings:

1    Mercedes    371
2    Ferrari    211
3    Williams-Mercedes    151
4    Red Bull-Renault    63
5    Force India-Mercedes    39
6    Lotus-Mercedes    29
7    Sauber-Ferrari    21
8    Toro Rosso-Renault    19
9    McLaren-Honda    5
10    Marussia-Ferrari    0

Next race: Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring. July 24-26.

Championship leader and home crowd favourite Lewis Hamilton achieved his 46th career pole position at the fast and challenging Silverstone circuit.

Nico Rosberg had to settle with second place after leading the way through the first two segments of qualifying, but Hamilton had the advantage thanks to his first runs in Q3, which proved enough to take pole by 0.113 seconds when neither improved later on.

Mercedes ended up with a clear seven-tenth gap to the rest of the field, as Williams got the better of Ferrari to be best-of-the-rest at Silverstone.

Williams locked out the second row of the grid, with Felipe Massa improving on his second Q3 run to edge out team-mate Valtteri Bottas by less than a tenth.

Kimi Raikkonen outqualified Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel for only the second time this season by setting the fifth quickest time.

Vettel dropped time in the final sector on his first Q3 run and was then held up in traffic on his final effort so was unable to improve.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat edged out the sister team of Toro Rosso as driven by Carlos Sainz Jr by just 0.013 seconds to take seventh.

As for team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, the honey badger wound up slowest of the top ten runners after losing his best lap in Q3 to a track-limits offence at Copse corner and a late improvement on his single new-tyre run by Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India.

The second revised VJM08 of Sergio Perez missed out on a chance to make the top ten shootout after running wide at Copse on his best lap.

Perez ended up in P11, just a few tenths clear of Romain Grosjean, until the Lotus driver had his best time deleted for a track limits offence.

Fortunately for Grosjean, his second best lap was still good enough for P12, ahead of a frustrated Max Verstappen.

The Toro Rosso rookie complained about a lack of rear grip throughout qualifying, which ended disappointingly after the STR10 showed strong form throughout free practice.

Verstappen was close to dropping out in Q1 after having his best time deleted for exceeding track limits at Copse, then struggled to P13 in Q2.

Pastor Maldonado was also penalised for exceeding track limits in Q1 and Q2 and wound up P14, fractionally slower than Verstappen but over three tenths clear of Marcus Ericsson.

Sauber team-mate Felipe Nasr, the McLaren-Hondas of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, and both Manor Marussias filled the bottom five places on the timesheet.

Both Nasr and Alonso agonisingly missed the Q2 cut by less than a tenth of a second, thanks to Maldonado having his best time scrubbed for running off the track at Copse.

So another front row grid slot for Mercedes and a popular qualifying result for the British crowd favourite Lewis Hamilton.

Can the reigning world champion score a win at his home race on Sunday? He looks at ease in the W06 Hybrid all season and race victory at Silverstone will certainly be a highlight.

Qualifying positions, Silverstone:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1m32.248s
2    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1m32.361s
3    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    1m33.085s
4    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m33.149s
5    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1m33.379s
6    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1m33.547s
7    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    1m33.636s
8    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m33.649s
9    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m33.673s
10    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    1m33.943s
11    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1m34.268s
12    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    1m34.430s
13    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m34.502s
14    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    1m34.511s
15    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m34.868s
16    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m34.888s
17    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    1m34.959s
18    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1m35.207s
19    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    1m37.364s
20    Roberto Merhi    Marussia-Ferrari    1m39.377s

Nico Rosberg reduced the points gap on his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to ten points with a commanding victory in the Austrian Grand Prix.

Rosberg took the advantage by making a great start and taking the lead at Turn 1 from Hamilton. Even with the worry about tyre vibrations in the final stages of the race, Rosberg had this covered and held on to take victory. His third this season.

Hamilton, who had five seconds added to his race time for crossing the white line at the pit lane exit, finished second with Felipe Massa scoring his first podium of the year in third for Williams after Sebastian Vettel was delayed at his pit-stop.

The safety car was called into action on the first lap when Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen made contact, sending both into the barriers and out of the race.

It looked like The Iceman had a big tank-slapper on the exit of Turn 2 and when the car snapped back to outside, Alonso had nowhere to go, vaulting the Ferrari as they came to rest against the outside barrier.

Both drivers walked away from the accident, with Alonso heading to the medical centre for a precautionary check before returning to the paddock.

With Alonso’s updated car out, the Austrian Grand Prix weekend then got worse for McLaren-Honda a few laps later when Jenson Button retired for the second race in succession.

In the battle for fifth, Valtteri Bottas had to pass Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg twice after losing out during the pit-stops.

Pastor Maldonado took his second successive points finish when snatched seventh from Max Verstappen on the penultimate lap.

Maldonado nearly lost control on the start/finish straight as Verstappen defended the inside line, but he got the position when the Toro Rosso locked up and went wide at Turn 1.

Carlos Sainz was running in the points early on as he banged wheels with Romain Grosjean before passing the Lotus to take ninth.

But he picked up a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane and then pulled into the pits to retire with a loss of power.

Grosjean’s race didn’t last much longer as he ran off track onto the grass before reporting a problem with the gearbox and retiring.

Sergio Perez recovered from a difficult qualifying to give Force India its first double-points finish since the season opener in Australia with ninth.

Daniel Ricciardo salvaged a point for Red Bull at its home race with 10th, passing Sauber’s Felipe Nasr in the closing stages.

Nasr crossed the line P11, with the Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat, who like his team-mate Ricciardo had a grid penalty for an engine change, was classified P12.

Marcus Ericsson had a troubled race, first picking up a drive-through penalty for jumping the start and then losing around 15 seconds when he stopped on the start/finish straight and had to do a full system reset before getting going again.

Manor’s Roberto Merhi was the last of the finishers in P14, the best finish of his Formula 1 career, while his team-mate Will Stevens retired for the first time this season with a suspected oil leak.

Austrian Grand Prix race results, 71 laps:

1 Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1h30m16.930s
2 Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    +8.800s*
3 Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    +17.573s
4 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    +18.181s
5 Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    +53.604s
6 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes +64.075s
7 Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    1 Lap
8 Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    1 Lap
9 Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1 Lap
10 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    1 Lap
11 Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1 Lap
12 Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault        1 Lap
13 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    2 Laps
14 Roberto Merhi    Marussia-Ferrari    68    3 Laps
– Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    Retirement*
– Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    Retirement
– Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    Retirement
– Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    1    Retirement
– Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    Collision
– Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    Collision

*Hamilton had 5s added to his race time for crossing the white line at the pit exit. Sainz received a 5s time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. 

Fastest lap Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 11.235s (lap 35)

Drivers’ standings:

1 Lewis Hamilton 169
2 Nico Rosberg 159
3 Sebastian Vettel 120
4 Kimi Raikkonen 72
5 Valtteri Bottas 67
6 Felipe Massa 62
7 Daniel Ricciardo 36
8 Daniil Kyvat 19
9 Nico Hulkenberg 18
10 Roman Grosjean 17
11 Felipe Nasr 16
12 Sergio Perez 13
13 Pastor Maldonado 12
14 Max Verstappen 10
15 Carlos Sainz 9
16 Marcus Ericcson 5
17 Jenson Button 4
18 Fernando Alonso 0
19 Roberto Merhi 0
20 Will Stevens 0

Constructors’ standing:

1 Mercedes 328
2 Ferrari 192
3 Williams-Mercedes 129
4 Red Bull-Renault 55
5 Force India-Mercedes 31
6 Lotus-Mercedes 29
7 Sauber-Ferrari 21
8 Toro Rosso-Renault 19
9 McLaren-Honda 4
10 Marussia 0

Next race: British Grand Prix, Silverstone. July 3-5