• Mercedes driver holds nerve with Leclerc a close second

• Russell fourth, with Norris and Piastri sixth and eighth

Much as Kimi Antonelli said he admired the British Grand Prix, its challenge and sporting spectacle, the Italian was in absolutely no mood to give a British driver so much as a sniff of a chance of enjoying a day in the sun as he swept to a majestic pole position for Sunday’s race.

Were will alone enough, the huge crowd at the old airfield would surely have powered Lewis Hamilton into the top spot, but their vocal support was not enough. Antonelli took his first pole here with the type of precision driving and commitment required on the high-speed blast that rewards drivers who can find the very edge. He did so with an authority and almost unconscious ease that unsurprisingly left his rivals a little deflated.

Driver has renewed passion and is a force again as he returns to circuit where he has a record nine wins

Smiling and relaxed, Lewis Hamilton cuts the figure of a man savouring being able to do what he does best once more at Silverstone, demonstrating to the naysayers that he remains a force to be reckoned with at this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

In the buildup to Sunday’s race Hamilton is as of old at the circuit that is all but his fiefdom. He has nine wins here since his debut in 2007 – a record for any driver at one circuit – which began a love affair for the meeting that he shares with the fans and has never diminished.