Mercedes' Nico Rosberg conceded his frustration at failing to reel in team-mate Lewis Hamilton during qualification for the British Grand Prix.

The Briton clocked his pole-setting time of 1:32.248 prior to a change to the softer medium tyres, with Rosberg going close to bettering him but ultimately coming up short, as he was just over a tenth of a second slower.

The German was unable to deny Hamilton an eighth pole of the season and spoke of his eagerness to fine-tune the car ahead of Sunday's race.

"Well first of all, the first lap was really good - Lewis was just one tenth quicker,  which is annoying but the way it is," he explained.

"No-one improved in that last run apart from Felipe [Massa]. 

"There was something wrong on my left front and we need to look at what it was."

Brazilian Massa (1:33.085) completed the top three, as he and fourth-placed Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas (1:33.020) edged out Ferrari pair Kimi Raikonnen (1:33.379) and Sebastian Vettel (1:33.547).

"It was a fantastic day for us," Massa added. "Me and Valtteri were third and fourth fighting each other, especially in Q3, and I just managed to get a fantastic lap in the end.

"I'm so happy, really looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully we can have a strong race and fight with the Ferraris.

"It is important to see we are in front with both cars - we just need to concentrate on tomorrow now."

Second-placed Ferrari currently lead Williams by 63 points in the constructors' championship, with runaway leaders Mercedes enjoying a 136-point advantage.