Hamilton: Red flag not a factor in result

The McLaren driver, who won his home race at Silverstone last year, was on course to set his own personal best time when Sutil crashed at the Abbey chicane, but thinks that it would have made no discernible difference to his qualifying spot.

"I did the best I could today," he said. "I was pushing as hard as I could, but our car is just took slow.

"I was really pushing on that final lap - but it was nothing special. I gave it my all, but there wasn't much more I could have got from the car."

His team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who started from pole position last year, snuck into Q2 with the 15th fastest time and later improved to 13th. He was satisfied that he had extracted the maximum from the MP4-24.

"Today's result is obviously disappointing for the team but, given the circumstances, I'm satisfied with my performance. I didn't make any mistakes and was on the limit all the time," the Finn said.

"We knew that this circuit wouldn't suit our car and that it would be difficult to make it into Q3, but the balance was okay, and the guys worked hard all night to try and address the car's lack of downforce. All we can hope for in the race is to maximise our strategy."