Lewis Hamilton laid down the gauntlet to Nico Rosberg ahead of qualifying by heading the timesheets in final practice for the British Grand Prix.
The world champion’s best lap of one minute 32.917 seconds was almost half-a-second faster than Mercedes team-mate Rosberg, who had been quickest in both sessions on Friday.
Hamilton arrived at a cooler, windier Silverstone on Saturday morning following an overnight storm, with the majority of the expectant 110,000 crowd hoping he will claim the 46th pole of his grand prix career.
And he will be the favourite to claim an incredible eighth pole in nine races this year after dominating practice this morning.
Hamilton was seven tenths clear of Kimi Raikkonen with the Finn’s Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel in fourth.
Max Verstappen, who has impressed so far this weekend, maintained his good form as he finished fifth with his Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz next up.
McLaren have endured a catastrophic season so far and there has been little cause of optimism at their home race.
Jenson Button has already ruled out finishing in the points in what could be the final British Grand Prix of his career, and he was only 16th fastest on Saturday morning, 2.7 sec down on Hamilton.
His team-mate Fernando Alonso completed only six laps – the fewest of any driver – after his team identified a hydraulic leak within his Honda power unit. He ended the session in 18th with only the Manor duo behind him.