Vettel takes Hockenheim pole, with Hamilton starting 14th

A thrilling qualifying session for the German Grand Prix saw Sebastian Vettel take pole position in record time, with Lewis Hamilton damaging his gearbox to go out in Q1 and ensure he will start Sunday's race mired in the midfield. Valtteri Bottas joins Vettel on the front row, with Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen in close quarters, third and fourth respectively.

Vettel has never had such a good chance to take a first victory at the circuit he grew up less than 30 miles from, with Hamilton suffering a hydraulic failure while bumping over kerbs and seeing attempts to push his car back to the pits being curtailed by stewards.

It opened the door for Vettel to take a 55th pole position and he duly obliged, lowering the lap record to one minute 11.212 seconds in the process with a blazing final effort.

Bottas did his best to keep Vettel honest, and the Mercedes team were agape with disbelief when he secured provisional pole, but there was no touching Vettel in the end, the German two tenths quicker.

Raikkonen never looked on the pace, while Verstappen dropped out of contention, having gone quickest in FP2 on Friday.

Saturday's practice session was nearly wiped out by rain, but the track had dried sufficiently for qualifying, not that it led to a duller session.

Amid reports he had felt unwell in the morning, Hamilton looked off-colour again in qualifying, regularly exceeding track limits and his machinery was similarly ailing after a trip over kerbs, Hamilton ordered to stop the car as he tried to nurse it back, before Mansell-esque attempts to roll the car home were also curtailed.

Hamilton will be joined in a race through the field by Daniel Ricciardo, who will start last thanks to a glut of engine penalties and his warm-up runs were brought to an end in Q2.

Haas' Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean took full advantage of two front-runners' absences to fill the third row, with the Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr just behind and Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez completing the top 10.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION

Q2

Another race, another Q3 qualification for Leclerc, while Sauber team-mate Marcus Ericsson could not make the shootout, qualifying slowest in a session that saw a reduced field as Hamilton and Ricciardo were absent. Sergey Sirotkin also qualified quicker than Ericsson, with Fernando Alonso on the edge of the top 10.

Q1

Esteban Ocon was a surprise departure among a more familiar cast of Lance Stroll, Brendon Hartley, Pierre Gasly and Stoffel Vandoorne, however Hamilton's issue took a good portion of attention away from the bottom five, who will have a charging Ricciardo behind them come race day.