Hamilton falters as Rosberg snatches F1 British Grand Prix pole

Andy Murray fell well short of defending his Wimbledon title, the English football team underperformed at the World Cup and to that Lewis Hamilton's

Andy Murray fell well short of defending his Wimbledon title, the English football team underperformed at the World Cup and to that Lewis Hamilton's blunder in not going for a flying lap in the final stage of qualifying for the Formula 1 British Grand Prix gave British sports fans yet another reason to be downcast. The 2008 F1 champion opted to give setting a time a miss as the clock ticked down to zero as Red Bull Racing's defending world champion Sebastian Vettel and then Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg beat him for pole position for Sunday's race that will be the 50th F1 race to be held at Silverstone.

But it wasn't just Rosberg and Vettel. McLaren's Jenson Button, Sahara Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Button's teammate Kevin Magnussen all managed to leapfrog Hamilton who had looked like a lock to take pole for his, as well as his F1 employer's - home race.

To Hamilton's credit he shouldered the blame of the gaffe entirely and did not blame the team that had asked him to dive into the pits if he didn't think he could go any faster as the qualifying session drew to a close. That bit of communication by his teammate was relayed to him due to his F1 drivers title rival Rosberg asking Mercedes to tell Hamilton to speed up as both drivers were at risk of missing out on a final attempt at a qualifying lap.

In the build up to the British GP weekend Hamilton had stated that he has more natural talent than Rosberg to fall back on. But based on his indecisiveness and Rosberg's 29 point lead in the hunt for the F1 title, the German has had the edge on grit and maximizing the technical package available to him.

Although qualifying will not decide the outcome of the 60 lap race tomorrow but moments like these as well as the instance of Rosberg comprehensively outqualifying Hamilton in the previous race are a hint of what could happen down the line.

Given that Hamilton still managed to close right up on Rosberg in Austria despite being six spots behind the same could happen in Silverstone.

With regards to who would be in the best position to challenge the Mercedes pair, that answer is a little unclear as of now due to the rain causing the grid to be decidedly mixed.

The nature of the Silverstone track is supposed to favour Red Bull in the race for best of the rest. In the dry practice sessions it had looked like Ferrari's former two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso would be beat the Bulls to it but qualifying served up a nasty surprise for both him and teammate Kimi Raikkonen as the two Ferraris were knocked out in the first segment of qualifying itself along with the Williams Racing machines of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

F1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION

1) Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:35.766

2) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:37.386

3) Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:38.200

4) Nico Hulkenberg (Force India-Mercedes) 1:38.329

5) Kevin Magnussen (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:38.417

6) Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:39.232

7) Sergio Perez (Force India-Mercedes) 1:40.457

8) Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull-Renault) 1:40.606

9) Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso-Renault) 1:40.707

10) Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso-Renault) 1:40.855

ELIMINATED AFTER Q2