British F1 Grand Prix 2017 Qualifying: Saturday's Results, Times, Final Grid

Lewis Hamilton earned pole position for Sunday's 2017 Formula One British Grand Prix after finishing fastest in qualifying at Silverstone on Saturday. The Mercedes driver finished ahead of Ferrari duo Kimi Raikkonen and title rival Sebastian Vettel, who could only manage third.

Hamilton was under investigation following qualifying, though, after Haas driver Romain Grosjean accused the 32-year-old of blocking him off. However, Mercedes eventually confirmed there would be no penalty and their driver would keep pole:

Hamilton began the day by topping the third and final practice session, before winning Q2 and Q3 with room to spare.

The Formula 1 official Twitter account revealed the classification and times for qualifying:

Hamilton's day began with him edging out closest title rival Vettel to finish first in the third and final practice session. Hamilton finished barely a tenth of a second in front of Vettel:

The rain-soaked conditions made things treacherous for the drivers, with Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo only narrowly avoiding disaster:

Things got worse for Ricciardo at the start of qualifying. He was soon forced off the increasingly slick track after complaining about engine trouble:

Ricciardo's troubles brought the red flags out early, but a stoppage seemed inevitable given the way the rain was continuing to fall.

Away from Ricciardo, the race between the top two remained intense once driving resumed. In fact, Hamilton held the early edge, maintaining the superiority he had shown in P3.

However, Vettel moved quickly to close the gap. The German soon made it Hamilton's turn to trail, per Channel 4 F1:

In the end, though, it was an unlikely driver who topped things at the end of Q1, as McLaren-Honda's Fernando Alonso posted the best time.

There was some irony to his finish, since Spaniard Alonso had received a 30-place grid penalty earlier in the day, per Jonathan Green and James Galloway of Sky Sports F1.

What made Alonso's brief moment of triumph all the more impressive was how it came despite the tyres he used not naturally countering the conditions, per BBC Sport's Andrew Benson:

Hamilton reasserted his dominance in Q2, as the Mercedes driver kept team-mate Valtteri Bottas at bay:

It was Hamilton who again set the pace from the start in Q3. Owning provisional pole, he still needed to hold off the challenge from Vettel, who was just over a tenth of a second behind.

As if to send a message, Hamilton and Bottas put up an eye-catching average speed mark:

There was some controversy when Grosjean appeared to complain Hamilton had blocked him. However, before the issue could be resolved officially, Hamilton still sped past the checkered flag to seal pole for the race proper.

His dominance was best summed up by the difference in time to Raikkonen:

On this form, the three-time world champion is going to be tough to beat on Sunday.