Defending champion Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position at the British Grand Prix on Saturday with his first lap in Q3 able to keep Nico Rosberg at bay.

Hamilton - who came from sixth to win his home race last year - will instead start from the front this time around after his time of 1:32.248 proved too much to overcome.

The Briton made the early running in Q3 - having topped FP3 after Rosberg had dominated Friday's running - and his initial effort proved to be enough to edge out his colleague.

Both Mercedes drivers made errors in their final hot laps, allowing Hamilton to coast into the pits as Rosberg tried in vain to eclipse his team-mate's time.

The world champion took his 46th career pole - third in the all-time standings behind Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna - and will start from the front of a grand prix for the eighth time this season.

Williams trumped Ferrari in the race behind the leading pair, Felipe Massa came in third with Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikonnen completing the top five.

Raikkonen had topped Q1 on the medium tyre but Hamilton's compatriot Jenson Button crashed out alongside Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard's struggles continuing following a leak early on Saturday.

Toro Rosso pair Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen will start from eighth and 13th respectively having both impressed during the three practice sessions.

The latter complained of a lack of traction prior to dropping out in Q2.

Daniel Ricciardo managed to sneak into the top 10 despite joining the likes of Raikonnen and Romain Grosjean in having laps deleted on Saturday due to breaching track limits at a windy Copse corner.

1.    Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:32.248
2.    Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:32.361
3.    Felipe Massa (Williams) 1:33.085
4.    Valtteri Bottas (Williams) 1:33.149
5.    Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:33.379
6.    Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1:33.547
7.    Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull) 1:33.636
8.    Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso) 1:33.649
9.    Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) 1:33.673
10.  Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1:33.943