Wolff: Both our drivers are hungry and will fight hard for the win

Team chief Toto Wolff knows that his cars are a second faster than anything else and team orders at this stage of the game would be a PR blunder of major proportions.

So to answer the question everyone is asking (Valtteri and Lewis too one would guess) is: "No Team Orders!"

Inadvertently or not, Wolff delivered the rules of engagement after yet another Merc one-two qualifying obliteration: "Both our drivers are hungry and will fight hard for the win."

How hungry? How hard? Are the questions.

The team chief added, "This is a very satisfying result, taking P1 and P2 with our drivers today. Valtteri did a great job to beat Lewis at his home track and it'll be exciting to see how the race pans out tomorrow.

"It was good to see that we maintained our pace advantage even in these hotter conditions and it will be important for us to keep that advantage tomorrow as well," he added in reference to the near one-second gap to their closest rivals, the Merc-powered Racing Point of Nico Hulkenberg!

It is fair to say that the softer tyres and different weather at Silverstone this weekend have opened up a myriad of strategic options - in sharp contrast to a week ago - which only need a stroke of luck to stop what is expected to be a Black Arrows procession; theirs to lose scenario.

After four rounds, Hamilton leads the standings by 30 points, so a pole lost here and there is no biggie in the greater scheme of things - points are dished out on Sunday and he does have a healthy cushion over the guy in the #77 car.

No race driver is a good loser, least of all Hamilton so when he is flinging the praise it means that all is good in the house... for now.

"Valtteri did a fantastic job," acknowledged Lewis afterwards. "He put in a very strong lap when it mattered in Q3 to take pole. My first lap in Q3 was good, but the second one wasn't really all that great.

"I just didn't pull it together, made a couple of mistakes right at the end and ultimately you pay for that. The change in wind direction made it a bit trickier out there today, but that was the same for everyone so no excuses."

"We'll work hard tonight to see where we can improve and you know I will be giving it everything to try and beat Valtteri tomorrow," added Hamilton.