Nico Rosberg was the biggest casualty of a weather-hit opening qualifying session at
Silverstone, but appeared to miss the cut more because of doubts over the conditions than a real lack of pace in the
Williams.
The German was among those in the drop zone with a handful of minutes to go, but opted to climb out of the cockpit of an admittedly oversteering car while his rivals buckled up and headed back out onto the circuit in the hope that the light rain had finished.
David Coulthard had hauled himself out of the bottom five and, when
Sebastien Bourdais vaulted from 14th to sixth, there appeared to be hope for the
Honda and
Force India teams, but it ultimately proved to be a false dawn.
Jenson Button improved only to 17th, demoting Rosberg to the outside of row nine but still missing the cut for a third straight year, while
Rubens Barrichello pitted at the end of his flying lap after being advised that he would not better his current 16th spot.
Giancarlo Fisichella spun at the end of his lap and will bring up the rear of the grid alongside team-mate
Adrian Sutil.
Heikki Kovalainen maintained his strong performance so far this weekend with fastest time at the head of a
McLaren 1-2, while
Sebastian Vettel,
Kimi Raikkonen and
Robert Kubica completed the top five.
