British Grand Prix 2016: Starting grid and lineup for Formula 1 race

The front of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone looks a whole lot different than the grid did at the Austrian Grand Prix a week ago. Lewis Hamilton is the pole sitter once again, but the last race saw surprises like Nico Hulkenberg occupying the second spot on the front row and the McLaren of Jenson Button sitting in third place, a season high for both drivers.

Nico Rosberg, Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, found himself starting in seventh place on the grid. But on Sunday, he’ll be starting second once again, with the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo just behind him. Sunday’s race is set for 8 a.m. ET and will be broadcast on CSNBC, with a live stream available via NBC Sports.

Hulkenberg will be starting all the way back in eighth after starting from second a week ago. Button, unfortunately, didn’t make it out of the first qualifying session and will start from 17th on the grid. His teammate, Fernando Alonso, kept up McLaren’s run of split fortunes by making it to the third qualifying session.

He starts from ninth on the grid, boosted one spot due to a five-place grid penalty for Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The penalty is a huge blow to Vettel, who fancied himself a competitor for the Mercedes and Red Bulls this season. But Ferrari continues to struggle with Vettel’s bad luck with his gearbox, though teammate Kimi Raikkonen will start from fifth on the grid on Sunday.

“It happened yesterday and today -- that’s a weakness and we need to stop it,” Vettel said of his third gearbox penalty in five grands prix. “I think the other occasions it was more of a consequence of things happening. The issue we had yesterday and today is something new and we need to fix it.”

Valtteri Bottas had a quiet, competent qualifying session and will start from sixth. It’s been a bit of a disappointing season overall for Williams, who thought they would be competing with Mercedes more. They haven’t been, and Bottas’ teammate, Felipe Massa, will start from 12th on the grid after a bad qualifying session.

The American-owned Haas F1 drivers, Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez, will start from 13th and 14th on the grid, respectively. They have been unable to consistently get into the third qualifying session, but still are performing well for a team in its very first season.

Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso had an excellent qualifying session and will start from seventh on the grid. He said he was “extremely happy” with the qualifying result after Toro Rosso have had some struggles in recent races. Sergio Perez, Hulkenburg’s teammate at Force India, will round out the top 10 of the grid on Sunday.

Below is the full starting grid for Sunday’s race: