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Formula One

Kovalainen snatches pole

05/07/2008

Lewis Hamilton had to make do with fourth position as his McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen took pole position for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The Finn recorded the fastest lap in his McLaren ahead of surprise package Mark Webber of Red Bull to achieve his first pole position.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest, nearly 0.7 seconds behind his fellow Finn Kovalainen, who achieved his position at the head of the grid with a lap time of one minute 21.049.

Hamilton was next after running off the track at Priory corner during his first run on the final part of qualifying to scupper any chances he had of claiming pole in front of his home crowd.

German Nick Heidfeld took fifth for the BMW Sauber team, with Renault's Fernando Alonso in sixth. World championship leader Felipe Massa was back in a disappointing ninth position, behind Alonso's team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel.

Kovalainen was understandably delighted with the first pole position of his Formula 1 career, but stated that it’s just the starting point with the intention being to win the Grand Prix on Sunday.

“It's not going to be easy tomorrow, but my pace has been good all week, and I am confident our strategy will be a strong one as well. The target is to win the Grand Prix.
“It was quite difficult conditions. At the start of the final session, the wind picked up and I was all over the place. But it went much better on the second run.”
David Coulthard qualified in 11th, ahead what will be his final Silverstone Grand Prix following his announcement of his intention to retire at the end of the 2008 season. Jenson Button will start the race in 17th.