Heikki Kovalainen captured his first Formula One pole

From Starsports

MCLAREN'S Heikki Kovalainen seized the first pole position of his Formula One career at the British Grand Prix yesterday after lapping more than half a second quicker than his rivals.

The 26-year-old Finn roared around the former World War Two airfield in 1:21.049, with Australian Mark Webber second fastest in 1:21.554 in gusty and changeable conditions.

“Well done, you're on pole by a mile,” he was told over the radio after depriving Red Bull's Webber of what would have been his and his team's first pole with the last lap of the session.

Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen, Kovalainen's compatriot, qualified third but ahead of his title rivals.

Britain's Lewis Hamilton was unable to match his 2007 Silverstone pole with fourth place for McLaren after running wide into the gravel on his first flying lap and being told not to overdrive by his race engineer.

Championship leader Felipe Massa was only ninth for Ferrari, the Brazilian's worst showing of the season, with his closest rival Robert Kubica 10th for BMW-Sauber after being sidelined by handling problems.

Massa has 48 points after eight races to Kubica's 46 and Raikkonen's 43 with Hamilton on 38.

“I've been spending time around this Silverstone area for many years of my life, and I know a lot of families and friends around here, so it's great to make the first pole here,” said Kovalainen, whose previous best in qualifying was second place in Turkey in May.

“There is a still a long way to go ... tomorrow is going to be tough and a hard race with the guys around us but I think we have a good opportunity.”

Webber played down Red Bull's first front row start by joking that he had enough fuel on board for only three laps and had put £200 on Kovalainen to win at 23-1.

“It's a bit of a surprise,” he said of his first front row start since qualifying second with Williams at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix.

Raikkonen, who qualified on pole at the previous race in France only to lose out to Massa when his car's exhaust broke, was happy with his position.

“We are not exactly where we want to be ... but third position is still okay if you look at where the others are in the championship ahead of me,” said last year's British Grand Prix winner.

Kubica failed to complete a flying lap in the final session and was outqualified for the first time this season by German team-mate Nick Heidfeld in fifth place.

Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso will start sixth while Brazilian team-mate Nelson Piquet built on his first points scoring race in France with his best qualifying to date in seventh place.

Toro Rosso's German Sebastian Vettel, the likely replacement for retiring Briton David Coulthard at Red Bull next year, qualified a strong eighth in his team's best qualifying performance to date.

Coulthard will start 11th in his last home appearance. – continue reading