Silverstone (United Kingdom) (AFP)

Avantage Valtteri Bottas: more comfortable since the start of the weekend, the Mercedes Finn deprived his teammate Lewis Hamilton of Saturday from pole position in front of his public, at the Grand Prix of Great Britain, for 6/1000 only!

When it was time to fight for a pole in the Silver Arrows, the Silverstone circuit promoting their ease and speed in the corners, Bottas signed a better first try than Hamilton, who made a rare mistake.

The five-time world champion then failed to improve his time enough in his second lap to beat the Finn's new track record of 1: 25: 093/1000.

The games are however open for the GP Sunday at 14:10 local (15:10 French). Bottas has gone on pole three times this season (in China, Azerbaijan and Spain), still ahead of Hamilton, and the Brit has twice outclassed him to win the race (in China and Spain) .

"I worked a lot on my starts this year, especially after these two little worries, and I feel more confident," said the 29-year-old driver on Saturday.

- Record of victories -

His teammate will have an additional element of motivation if needed: a success would allow the child of the country to beat the record of victories at the GP of Great Britain which he currently shares with the Scottish Jim Clark and the Frenchman Alain Prost, with five trophies each.

It would also be the adequate answer to critics that the five-time world champion wipes. Some of his compatriots, to whom the British journalists lend their voice, reproach him indeed for his lack of "Britishness", he who lives between Monaco and the United States and is not soft with his city of origin, worker and very white, Stevenage (north of London).

Hamilton does not hide it, to increase his chances, he crosses his fingers so that the rain, which he particularly appreciates, invites himself, while a few drops fell in free practice 1 and 3.

Whatever the outcome of the GP, it will not change the balance of power at the top of the drivers' standings: the British leader is 31 points ahead of Bottas, 2nd, 71 on Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 3rd, 74 on Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), 4th, and 92 on Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 5th.

In the constructors, after nine rounds, Mercedes was 135 ahead of the Scuderia, 2nd, and 194 on Red Bull, 3rd.

- "Hard to fight" -

For Ferrari, Leclerc signed the third fastest qualifying time at 79/1000 just from Bottas. He beats for the third consecutive time in this exercise his experienced teammate Vettel, 6th.

The Monegasque will share the second line on Sunday with Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who won the victory after an epic duel at the last GP in Austria at the end of June. The German will start him behind the French Pierre Gasly (Red Bull).

The Italian cars, which will start in soft tires, faster but less durable, will adopt in the race a strategy different from those of Mercedes and Red Bull, in medium.

But they have suffered a lot with these tires in race simulation during free practice on Friday, which is not very encouraging ... "It will be very difficult to fight with them," said Leclerc.

Australia's Daniel Ricciardo (Renault), Britain's Lando Norris (McLaren), Thailand's Alexander Albon (Toro Rosso) and Germany's Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) took the lead in the middle of the table, completing the top-10 qualifying practice.

Frenchman Romain Grosjean (Haas) took the 14th place on the grid. He returns this weekend to the car he was driving at the opening of the season in Australia to try to understand why it was working better than the current version, that his teammate Kevin Magnussen Denmark, 16th, keeps.

© 2019 AFP