Kovalainen takes Silverstone pole

Updated 14.28 Sat Jul 05 2008
Keywords: formula one, Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, motor racing, Lewis Hamilton

Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren has claimed pole position for the British Grand Prix.

Britain's Lewis Hamilton qualified in fourth position.

Hamilton effectively blew his chance of pole on his first flying lap when he ran wide on to the gravel

Kovalainen qualified ahead of Mark Webber of Red Bull and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton effectively blew his chance of pole on his first flying lap when he ran wide on to the gravel.

Behind him come Renault's Fernando Alonso and the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld, followed by the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Vettel.

Championship leader Felipe Massa qualified ninth in his Ferrari, with his closest challenger in BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica tenth.

David Coulthard, competing in his final British Grand Prix after confirming on Thursday he will retire at the end of the season, missed out on a place in the top ten by 0.059 seconds in his Red Bull.

The Scot will start from 11th, with the Toyotas of Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli sandwiching Sebastien Bourdais in his Toro Rosso in 12th, 13th and 14th, with Kazuki Nakajima 15th for Williams.

As for the remaining Brit, Jenson Button's recent woeful run of form continued as he will start from 17th in his Honda, one place behind team-mate Barrichello.

Williams' Nico Rosberg starts a surprising 18th, with the German bemoaning ride quality problems with his car that had plagued him during practice.

And despite a number of upgrades with their cars, the Force India duo of Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella are again at the rear of the grid, the latter spinning as he attempted a final hot lap.

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