In the lead-up to qualifying for the 2013 British Grand Prix the Williams F1 team drivers could only manage thirteenth and sixteenth in the final practice, with Pastor Maldonado leading team-mate Valtteri Bottas. A frustrating time for the team as the team is celebrating their 600th Grand Prix. With the start of the first twenty minute period Hulkenberg would come out first. The team had the hard and medium tyres to choose from during the session. He would be followed by Sauber team-mate Gutierrez, joined by Chilton and Grosjean. Both Marussia's were out on the medium tyre while the others were on the harder tyre. Both Williams drivers would take to the track early with both also on the hard tyre.

A 1m:35.806 from Hulkenberg as more drivers took to the track. A 1m:33.697 from Gutierrez to be quickest as we had Massa, Raikkonen, and both Torro Rosso cars take to the track. A 1m:32.586 from Grosjean to go fastest as Perez started his timed lap. Valtteri would set a 1m:32.874 to be second but he would drop down one place as Raikkonen went second, 1m:32.785. Pastor was down in fifth with a time of 1m:33.328, a considerable margin behind Valtteri. Perez was now sixth followed by Massa as Vergne moved into fifth. This would become sixth as team-mate Ricciardo went third, 1m:32.792. Valtteri was now fourth and Pastor seventh.

Grosjean was quickest with an improved time of 1m:32.401 while for Sauber Hulkenberg was fifth. Di Resta went second with a 1m:32.546 but quickly Alonso would move to the top of the times with a 1m:32.266 but Grosjean would respond with a 1m:31.964 to again be quickest. Pastor had also found time with a 1m:32.870 to move ahead of Valtteri. They were now eighth and ninth as Ricciardo went second, 1m:32.227. But Rosberg would go fastest with a time of 1m:31.355. Team-mate Hamilton would move ahead of Rosberg with a 1m:30.995. Rosberg and Hamilton were both on the medium tyres for their first runs. Grosjean was now third followed by Ricciardo, Alonso, Vergne, Di Resta, Raikkonen, Perez, and Pastor now tenth. Sutil was eleventh and Valtteri now twelfth.

The track would start to empty as drivers completed their first laps. Several other drivers had switched to the medium tyre with Sutil moving up to fourth with a 1m:32.002. Webber running on the hard tyre would move into third with a time of 1m:31.605. Both Williams drivers were back out on the medium tyre as Vettel went fourth with a 1m:31.854. Pastor and Valtteri were currently in fourteenth and fifteenth. Perez would move up to fifth, 1m:31.953, as Pastor improved his time but remained fourteenth. Raikkonen was now third, 1m:31.400, with Button now eighth. Pastor and Valtteri had dropped to sixteenth and seventeenth as the period drew to a close. Massa was in eighteenth and on his final lap.

The period would come to an end with Vergne moving up to twelfth, 1m:32.105. Massa would move up to fourteenth while Alonso was fifteenth. On his final lap Pastor would move ahead of Valtteri with a 1m:32.512 seeing Pastor sixteenth and Valtteri seventeenth. This would see Valtteri join Gutierrez, Pic, Bianchi, Van Der Gar, and Chilton not make the cut. The top ten was Hamilton frm Rosberg, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Vettel, Webber, Perez, Button, Sutil and Di Resta.

With only one Williams making it into the second period it was not looking good for Williams. With the start of the period Webber was out first followed by Sutil. Webber was on the hard tyre as Pastor came out joined by both Force India cars. More drivers would leave the pits including Vergne, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Massa, Alonso, Vergne, and Hamilton. A 1m:31.341 from Webber followed by Sutil with a 1m:31.410. Sutil was on the medium tyre as Pastor set a 1m:33.170 to be third. Di Resta would move ahead with a 1m:31.812 while Grosjean moved into forth and Vergne fifth. Rosberg would go fastest with a 1m:31.028 followed by Hamilton now second. Alonso was fourth followed by Sutil and Ricciardo. Five drivers had yet to set a time with eight minutes remaining.

Pastor was now in eleventh as Button and Raikkonen looked at setting a time. Vettel had yet to come out as Button went eleventh fastest with Pastor now thirteenth. Perez and Vettel would both come out joined by Pastor all on the medium tyre. Vettel would go fastest in sector one as more drivers started to return to the track for their second runs. He would finish with a 1m:30.990 to go fastest from Rosberg and Hamilton. Grosjean would also improve to be seventh, 1m:31.530. Pastor would set a 1m:32.378 but was down in fourteenth.

Vettel would pit joining both Mercedes cars. Ricciardo would move up to third with a 1m:31.182. Pastor was down in fifteenth and was on his final flying lap. Vergne would move up to tenth as Di Resta went fifth and Sutil went third. Webber was now second with a 1m:31.002 while for Williams their qualifying would come to an end with Pastor in sixteenth.

The top ten would be Vettel from Webber, Rosberg, Sutil, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Di Resta, Alonso, Grosjean and Raikkonen. Those not making the cut were Button, Massa, Vergne, Perez, Hulkenberg, and Pastor. So Williams will see their cars start from sixteenth and seventeenth. Not the way to celebrate their 600th race.

The final ten minute period would commence with Ricciardo first out running on the medium tyre. Webber and di Resta would head out, with Rosberg following them. Alonso was out on the hard tyre for his first run. Sutil was also out on hard tyres while Ricciardo set a 1m:31.579 to be quickest. But this would be quickly beaten with a 1m:30.508 by Webber but Rosberg would also move ahead of the Red BUll with a 1m:30.231. Hamilton would move ahead of his Hamilton with a 1m:30.096. Vettel was fourth after his first run followed by Grosjean and Alonso. We had yet to see Di Resta, Sutil, and Raikkonen come out looking at just a single run.

Raikkonen and the two Force India cars would take to the track followed shortly by the other seven cars. Di Resta was fastest in sector one but Webber would go quicker. Hamilton would go fastest in sector one while team-mate Rosberg was fastest in sector two. Webber would finish in second but Rosberg would go fastest with a 1m:30.059. But Hamilton would beat his team-mate with a 1m:29.607. Vettel would finish in third with Webber now fourth followed by Di Resta, Ricciardo, Sutil, Grosjean, Raikkonen and Alonso in tenth. An all Mercedes front row followed by an all Red Bull second row. For Williams a disappointing result as they again struggled to find any sort of pace from their cars.