2014 British Grand Prix Sunday - British Grand Prix

"Please check the right-rear brake, there was a lot of smoke coming out of it," Hamilton reported to Mercedes.

The Briton's fearful it might be "a small fire".

There was a bizzare incident, if it can so be called, concerning Sergio Perez and Susie Wolff earlier in the weekend.

Wolff's grand prix weekend debut yesterday was an achievement that's a dream to the vast majority for budding F1 drivers, so it was a shame (if not unsurprising) that much of the focus was on the Williams test driver's gender.

Force India driver Perez made a small joke about women and kitchens, and came under fire in some circles for it.

Wolff herself requested people "gave him a break", though the Mexican has since moved to make it very clear that it was only meant to be a comment made in jest.

"I recognise that my comment, even though it was intended as a joke, was absolutely out of place," he said in a statement on his website. "I believe and I am truly convinced in gender equality.

"With Susie Wolff I hold a very close friendship and I admire her greatly for her determination; I wish her the best of luck as person and as a professional driver."

Speaking of best qualifying performances, Marussia's Jules Bianchi starts this race a career-best 12th.

EDD STRAW caught up with the Frenchman after qualifying.

"I think we did the maximum we could do," said Bianchi. "We did the perfect strategy, the team made a great call for the slicks in Q1 and then they asked me and I made the right call for slicks in Q2 and we did well, especially with the big boys [Williams and Ferrari] behind us.

"I will have to try not to lose too much time in the race dealing with them. Basically, I won't give up positions because I am a racer but if I see some cars that are massively quicker like the Williams and the Ferrari I won't try to do anything because there's no point in fighting them and losing time for nothing.

"But if I can fight with the other cars, I will."

Hamilton and Ricciardo were not the only men disappointed about being bumped down the order in the closing seconds of qualifying – because Sergio Perez dropped from third to seventh.

The Mexican had run off the track on his final outlap – which led to his tyre temperatures dropping and forcing him to let Mercedes duo Hamilton and Nico Rosberg past.

Unluckily for him, by backing off he missed getting across the start line before the chequered flag came out – costing him any chance of holding on to a top grid slot.

"I was a bit disappointed in that," said the Mexican. "In a way I am optimistic with the result but in another way very disappointed in how things ended up.

"We were third before the last lap. It was really wet and when I was warming my tyres up I ran wide in Turn 11 so while coming back I lost a lot of temperature and I had to let the Mercedes through.

"I lost the moment to do any better and then I had the chequered flag – so didn't have the opportunity to go quicker which was a big shame.

"But at the end of the day we are P7 and we have big hopes for the race. My race pace is very strong and I am confident with what I have to do – so I can’t see why I can’t move forward."

That exclusion was particularly sour for Maldonado, who had targeted points this weekend after what he called "a more clean race for us" in Austria last time out.

"We were able to do the qually and the race without any big problems, it's encouraging," he said. "We need to work very hard to try to exploit 100 per cent from the car, from the team, from myself. If we do that, it's possible to fight for the points."

It is still very much possible for the Venezuelan to register his first points finish for his new team, but starting from 20th doesn't make a tough job any easier.

Williams took a conservative approach to the last race in Austria, choosing to guarantee third and fourth placed finishes rather than fight with Mercedes to convert a front-row lockout of the grid into a possible victory.

Felipe Massa had pole for that race, but will start 15th today after yesterday's nightmare.

For the Brazilian, who is celebrating 200 grands prix, it will be all about aggression: "When you start in the back you cannot have a conservative approach,” BEN ANDERSON heard from the 2008 runner-up. "We have to do our damage limitation. We need to risk everything we can to score points."

Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was also in a fairly philosophical mood: "We are still the same team, we are a strong team. We made a mistake but we will learn from it. With the car we have we can still score some strong points.

"The Ferraris are behind us, Button is quite far away, but we know McLaren’s race pace is not so good, so maybe he will hold some people up and that could be our opportunity.

"I've started from the back a couple of times this year, and both times it’s been quite good, so with the top speeds we have it should be possible to overtake."

So what can Ferrari achieve during the race? Alonso is hoping for a "chaotic" grand prix to help him salvage some decent points for the Italian squad.

"A chaotic race will be better," he told BEN ANDERSON. "When you start 19th there is nothing to lose, so we'll see what type of race we have.

"I think mixed conditions will help. If it's a multiple-pitstop race with many changes that will help, because in one lap you can gain 30 seconds if you have the right tyre in that moment.

"It's a circuit where if you have the pace you can overtake, because there are some corners where you can gain a lot of time and take the slipstream.

"Our biggest problem this year is our lack of speed. We are not too high on power and we don't have a massive straightline speed, so sometimes we are stuck in the races. That's our biggest concern.

"We just need to keep pushing all the way because there are some teams at the front like McLaren, Red Bull and Force India, and we need to finish in front of them."

Changing conditions caught out Canadian Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages of yesterday’s qualifying session.

The Red Bull driver was fourth on the provisional grid when he elected to sit out a final run and head for the driver weighbridge.

He emerged to find himself bumped to eighth by a sequence of unexpected late improvements and, having labelled the move a "rookie error" said he was "gobsmacked" by how quickly the track had changed.

Team-mate Sebastian Vettel starts second and Ricciardo is hopeful of making progress in the race.

"I would have liked to start further up the grid, but it is what it is," he said. "We’ll try to race hard and move forward. There are some cars in front if us that I think we’re quicker than."

Lewis Hamilton, British Grand Prix practice, Mercedes

The main talking point after qualifying on Saturday was Lewis Hamilton's mistake in backing off on his final lap – just as the track got quick enough to allow rivals to knock him off what was then the top spot.

Irrespective of that error, it means Hamilton will have his work cut out to make a good enough recovery to stop his team-mate Nico Rosberg extending a 29-points advantage in the title chase.

But while Hamilton did brilliantly to recover from ninth spot in Austria a fortnight ago – thanks in part to a brilliant opening lap – he is not so optimistic this time around.

When asked on Saturday whether or not what he did in Austria off the line gave him confidence for today, he said: "Not really. Because I have 100 or so grands prix, and that was probably one of three very good first laps for me. But what it did show is it is possible."

He added: "I feel it is going to be damage limitation again. We [Mercedes] have around 1000 people here tomorrow, and hopefully they will energise me.

"I have got a lot of Mercedes cars ahead which will be very hard to overtake, and it won’t be as easy at the last race."