Lewis Hamilton couldn't hold back the tears after pulling out an extra-special lap to seize pole position for his home British Grand Prix. The 33-year-old squeezed a scorching one minute 25.892 second lap in the Silverstone sunshine from his Mercedes in the dying seconds of qualifying, which was only just enough to beat Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel to the top spot by 0.044 seconds. Kimi Raikkonen was third for Ferrari but was also only a mere 0.098 seconds adrift of Hamilton's benchmark in a hard-fought battle for pole. "Oh man, I gave it everything I could," Hamilton, visibly shaking with adrenaline and emotion, said right after stepping out of his car as watching fans sent up a cheer.

"The Ferraris pulled something out when we got to Q3 and I was just praying I could do it for you guys. "I'm so grateful for the support because without you guys, I wouldn't be able to do it," he added. Yesterday's pole extends the Briton's record haul of career poles to 76. It was also his sixth overall at Silverstone, four of which he has scored in the last four years alone.