Lorenzo undecided on race tyre choice

The world championship leader managed an astonishingly consistent 18 laps on the hard tyre, which some of his rivals had found difficult to warm up, before switching to the softer tyre to set his pole time of 2m03.308s.

And afterwards the factory Yamaha rider admitted that while he expected the race pace was likely to be in the high 2m03s bracket, he remained unsure which direction he intended to go in on tyres.

"It depends on the weather," said Lorenzo. "If it is hot, then probably we will use the hard one, if the weather is like today maybe we will use the soft."

Lorenzo, who often banks several laps during free practice and qualifying, explained that he believed this strategy to be even more important given that Silverstone is new to the calendar.

"I just tried to be fast from the beginning, I felt so great from the bike..." he said. "I love this track very much.

"Today I started to understand the track. It is very different from others because the Tarmac is so cold. You can be on the soft tyre for so long. We just made one run with the soft tyre, and with this tyre I could get pole position, but I am more happy about the feeling about the bike.

"I think on this track it is important to do a lot of laps, to understand the grip, the braking points and the limit of the track."

Lorenzo predicted a hectic start to the race, but added that he felt confident of securing his securing his third win of the season.

"Tomorrow will be an interesting race, especially in the first laps," he said. "Let's see what happens. It depends on my mind. If my mind is open it will be difficult for them to catch me. I would like to race like I have in qualifying."