Second row start at Silverstone for Max Verstappen

Having failed to finish in five of the last seven races through no fault of his own, Verstappen set the fifth fastest time in Saturday's qualifying session, but with Valtteri Bottas' grid penalty, he still start Sunday's race fourth.

Verstappen said: “It was a lonely qualifying for me and we ended up pretty much exactly where I expected. We were lacking the speed and therefore unable to get close to the Mercedes and Ferraris but the car still felt good so I had fun out there. Fifth was the best we could have done today and I achieved that.

"I’ll start tomorrow in fourth which of course is better but I never like to rely on penalties for other people to help, I wish I was there just on pace. We shall wait and see what the weather brings tomorrow, hopefully some rain as I think I have a better chance of challenging for a podium in the wet."

The session began under dark damp skies, with some teams gambling on dry tyres despite the incessant drizzle around Silverstone. Neither Red Bull gambled, opting for intermediate tyres and it initially paid off, with Ricciardo leading Verstappen in the time sheets. But a suspected turbo failure saw grind to a halt at Woodcote, stopping the session so marshals could recover his stricken RB13.

The Australian had already been handed a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox on Friday, and only Fernando Alonso's 30-place drop keeps the Red Bull Racing man off the very back of the grid for Sunday's race.

"I’m not 100 percent sure what happened yet but it is a suspected turbo failure," Ricciardo said. "I lost a bit of power down the straight and heard some weird turbo noises, I thought I could nurse it back to the pits but then it all switched off and we couldn’t save it for the session.

"I’m just disappointed not to show more of what we could do in qualifying as these conditions should have given us a bit more of an opportunity. We were quick straight out of the box today and I was P1 before the failure, so we look pretty good on the intermediate tyre.

"Tomorrow is where the points are, we’ve got to work hard to get back in there but it is what it is. Mixed weather could hopefully help me out but I think in either these or dry conditions we can fight through the field and get inside the top ten.”