Lewis Hamilton is hoping for more rain at the British Grand Prix after he could only qualify 10th at Silverstone.
But McLaren star hoping for more bad weather on Sunday
Lewis Hamilton is hoping for more rain at the British Grand Prix after he could only qualify 10th at Silverstone on Saturday.
Although a second successive day of showers at the Northamptonshire track did not shake up the order too much, McLaren's inability to react to the changeable weather conditions has left the 2008 world champion with plenty of work to do in the race itself.
When the rain intensified in session one, McLaren took the curious step of sending Hamilton out on a fresh set of soft compound slick tyres.
The end result was one dismal lap, with Hamilton returning to the pits having effectively wasted a set of tyres.
Having successfully reached the top-10 shoot-out session, Hamilton was then forced to run on a used set of the softer option tyres.
He then attempted to better his time with a new set of option tyres but the second flying lap was scuppered by more rain.
As a result, Hamilton lines up on row five of the starting grid, 1.977s slower than polesitter Mark Webber.
"I enjoyed the changeable weather conditions today, but it's disappointing to have ended up so far behind," Hamilton said.
"For Q3, we fitted a used set of Options for our first run when the others ran new tyres, and that hurt our performance.
"Then, when we fitted new tyres for the final run, it started raining so I couldn't improve my time."
Tricky
Hamilton is naturally hoping to make inroads in front of his home crowd, although he was quick to admit that more rain would help on Sunday.
"I think there are a couple of guys in front of me who ought to be slower than me, so I'll do my best to make progress in the early laps even though overtaking here is difficult," he added.
"I hope we can still have an exciting race, but it'll be tricky.
"I guess I'll be hoping for rain tomorrow to increase my chances of getting a good result.
"Nevertheless, the fans here are the best in the world - they're sensational in fact - and they'll spur me on in the race. I really hope I can do something special for them tomorrow."
