Hamilton’s Q3 mistake hands Rosberg pole at British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has slipped out to 5/2 to win the British Grand Prix after another costly mistake in qualifying handed Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg pole position at Silverstone on the very last lap in Q3.

In hellishly changeable conditions at Silverstone where rain had played havoc with grip in various places on the track, the Brit made a disastrous decision to abort his final lap believing he had pole in the bag.

However, to Hamilton’s horror, the final sector of the circuit which had been slippery due to rainfall during the session dried up in rapid time, leaving Rosberg to prosper in dramatic fashion.

The German driver maintained his composure to take his fourth pole position of the season (as we predicted) to match Hamilton’s own quartet, leaving the championship leader as clear 4/6 favourite to win Sunday’s race.

Hamilton’s error typified his recent qualifying displays and although he has the pace to challenge from the third row of the grid, catching his teammate in Rosberg’s current form is an unenviable task likely to require a slice of luck.

Meanwhile, in a chaotic qualifying session due to the wet conditions which saw both Williams and both Ferrari’s crash out in Q1, world champion Sebastian Vettel showed immense skill to put himself alongside Rosberg at the front of the grid.

A former winner at Silverstone, Vettel’s price of 6/1 to claim the chequered flag holds plenty of appeal on his showing over the first two days of the weekend.

Things didn’t go so well for Redbull teammate Daniel Ricciardo however, as the Canadian Gran Prix winner also made mistakes in the changeable conditions to finish eighth, rendering him a 33/1 chance.

It was a great day for McLaren’s Jenson Button though, who managed to squeeze into third on the grid giving himself a 25/1 chance of an unlikely British Grand Prix victory.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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