SILVERSTONE (England) - Lewis Hamilton's hopes of a home victory at the British Grand Prix suffered a setback on Friday as teammate Heikki Kovalainen stormed to his first career pole position at Silverstone.

Hamilton was quickest after the second qualifying session, but will start in fourth place at Silverstone after a disappointing final session.

Mark Webber claimed second for Red Bull while world champion Kimi Raikonnen is in third for Ferrari.

Pole is no guarantee of success at Silverstone - there have been only two winners from that position in the last 10 years.

And, with rain forecast for today, there is plenty of drama in store for the penultimate race at the Northamptonshire venue.

Hamilton's chances were hit on the first flying lap in the closing qualifying session as he ran wide on to the gravel.

That led to a warning from his team over the radio on his second lap: 'Do not overdrive! Do not overdrive!' as he was quickest in the first two sectors, but that warning went unheeded.

Kovalainen seized the first pole position of his Formula One career 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 1min 21.049sec, with Australian 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.

Championship leader Felipe Massa was only ninth for Ferrari, the Brazilian's worst showing of the season.

His closest rival, Robert Kubica, was 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.

Kovalainen managed consistently fast times on both days of practice and qualifying.

Conditions were difficult on Friday, when Silverstone was left damp after a heavy shower two hours before the sessions began.

'They were quite difficult qualifying conditions, with dark skies and blustery winds,' said Kovalainen, whose best was 1min 21.049sec in the final qualifying round.

'But, in the second part (of qualifying), it was much better without any problems. Thereafter, a great run in the final part which I'm very happy about.

'I've been spending time around this Silverstone area for many years of my life. I know a lot of families and friends around here, so it's great to make the first pole here.'

His previous best in qualifying was second place in Turkey in May.

He said: 'There is a still a long way to go. Today is going to be tough and a hard race with the guys around us but I think we have a good opportunity.'

Webber, who has never finished higher than third in 111 starts, tied his best previous qualifying performance at Monaco two years ago after a time of 1:21.554.

He 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 &pound200 (S$540) 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.

'We've been pretty strong most of the weekend but we didn't realise how strong, I suppose, until we got into Q2 (the second qualifying session).

'It's a bit of a home grand prix for all the Red Bull Racing guys, it's a proud moment for them but only 5 per cent of the job is done,' he added.

'We were a bit quick but we didn't know that we would be on the front row,' the Australian said.

'We changed the car a little overnight and it was much better this morning. You never know what the other guys are doing, just focus on yourself.

The result for us has been very impressive. The guys have done a really good job.'

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 th championship ahead of me,' said last year's British Grand Prix winner.

Ahead of the race, Raikkonen stands a point away from becoming only the seventh driver in F1 history to reach the 500-point mark.

The Finn is also bidding to become the first Ferrari driver since Alberto Ascari in 1952 and 1953 to win back-to-back British Grand Prix.

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

Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso will start sixth, while Brazilian teammate 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.

AP, REUTERS