Kovalainen on pole, Webber second

F1 Grand Prix, GP Great Britain, Silverstone Circuit

Heikki Kovalainen has driven masterfully to get his first career pole, topping a stunning Mark Webber by half a second. World Champion Kimi Raikkonen will be in 3rd place. Lewis Hamilton meanwhile made a costly mistake and ruined his own chances on pole. He did however manage to get 4th place.

After tomorrow's FP3 was already held on a damp track, the weather conditions for the qualifying session are expected to vary greatly during the session as rain is expected somewhere during the coming hour. At the start of the session however, the track is dry but the clouds threatening.

The weather conditions immediately causes all drivers to come out on track to make sure they set a fast lap in dry conditions. After 5 minutes of running, Lewis Hamilton is fastest, ahead of Alonso and Kovalainen. The first Ferrari is Raikkonen in 5th place. Most drivers at this stage are however running on the harder compound and opting for a string of quick laps, rather than one.

With 5 minutes to go in Q1, rain start to fall. Kovalainen at this moment is fastest, while Rosberg, both Honda's and both Force India cars are most likely to drop out of Q2. Moment later though, it stops raining and the track doesn't look too wet at all.

Consequently, Fisichella makes another attempt but goes off two corners before the finish line. Barrichello also fails to improve on the option tyres while Bourdais is more successful as he manages to improve to 6th place.

Q2 then gets underway slowly as the drivers are awaiting for the track to dry and heat up as the sun is out again. Fernando Alonso is out first and engages his first quick lap 10 minutes before the session's end. He completes his lap in 1:20.336 seconds.

The McLarens are quickly on top, followed by both BMW Sauber cars. A lot of drivers are however unsure and must come out for a final attempt, even including both Ferraris. The Renaults and Ferraris can qualify without problems. Out are Coulthard - despite Webber being 4th, Glock, Bourdais, Trulli and Nakajima. Both Toyota's are visibly struggling compared to their excellent performance at Magny-Cours. Trulli however at this time marks the fastest apex speed in turn 3 at 220 km/h, a whopping 5km/h faster than anyone else.

2 minutes after the start of of Q3, the first cars start to come out and Raikkonen is the first and fastest to set a time. Kovalainen improves slightly while Lewis Hamilton is trying a bit too hard and picks up a lot of gravel off the track. He does however continue with the same tyres.

While everyone is running, Kubica is still in the pitlane and his engineers are quickly fitting the required tyres. Moments later it is too late after Kubica is apparently complaining from a suspension problem he also experienced on friday.

When the clock hits zero seconds Raikkonen improves on Kovalainen by more than half a second. Hamilton isn't able to improve, but Webber and Kovalainen are, setting 1:21.049. Will this be a surge for the Finn as he marks his first pole in Formula One?

Check back tomorrow for a possibly wet and even more exciting race.