2020 F1 British GP Qualifying: As it happened

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After a gruelling triple header and a brief break, Formula 1 is back this weekend for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Silverstone plays host to this weekend’s British Grand Prix as well as next weekend’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix - also at Silverstone.

Going into this weekend, Lewis Hamilton leads the drivers’ championship by five points ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Bottas seized the initiative having won the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix, but Hamilton bounced back in Styria and Hungary to take back the championship lead.

Silverstone will certainly play into the strengths of the Mercedes car with the German team looking like it could win every race this season due to how dominant it looked at both the Red Bull Ring and the Hungaroring.

The big news on Thursday was that Sergio Perez had been diagnosed with Coronavirus and thus has been ruled out of racing this weekend.

Former Renault and Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg has replaced the Mexican. 

What happened last time out?

A wet start allowed Hamilton to show his prowess in those conditions and quickly established a comfortable lead over the rest of the field - allowing him to take yet another win at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

After his shunt on his way to the grid, Max Verstappen recovered well to finish second ahead of Bottas - who was fortunate to get away with a false start. 

Lance Stroll performed solidly on his way to fourth ahead of Alexander Albon and Sebastian Vettel.

Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the points-paying positions - with the Dane losing ninth having picked up a five-second time penalty after Haas was deemed to have used ‘driver aids’ on the formation lap.

What to expect this weekend?

The high-speed nature of Silverstone is expected to play into Mercedes’ hands.

Hot, dry conditions are expected across the weekend.

Racing Point will be hoping to challenge Red Bull for the podium given the advantage it has - as well as Mercedes on the power unit side.

Pirelli has nominated the C1, C2 and C3 compounds for this race weekend.