Qualifying Report - Hamilton keeps the fans happy

Lewis Hamilton blasted to pole position for the British Grand Prix in a knife-edge finish during the qualifying. Hamilton made no mistakes (as usual) and ended up edging out Kimi Raikkonen by a small margin when the Finn drifted wide at the final corner and lost traction in the run down to the start-finish line. But Raikkonen is confident that in the race the Ferraris will be able to outrun the McLarens as they did in France. But that is not the only worry for Hamilton because his team-mate Fernando Alonso looks threatening as well with a clear implication that he is running with several lapf more fuel on board his McLaren. This could put him ahead in the race.

Felipe Massa in fourth place in the second Ferrari may also be a threat in the course of the race.

The key point is that although hamilton would love to win his first Britrish Grand Prix, his ultimate aim is to keep his lead in the World Championship and a consistent points finish will help him on his way to what would be an even bigger prize.

Robert Kubica kept BMW in its habitual fifth place despite gearbox problems while his team-mate Nick Heidfeld struggled with tyres and set-up and found himself ninth, which is unusually far back for the German.

The big surprise was Ralf Schumacher in sixth, who achieved his best qualifying result of the year as Toyota maintained the form it showed at Silverstone in the recent test. Williams would probably have beaten Toyota but there were problems for Nico Rosberg, who lost power in his engine at a crucial moment and so ended up back in 17th place. With team-mate Alexander Wurz 13th, Williams was going to struggle to get points on Sunday.

The two Renaults were seventh and eighth, which is pretty much were one expects to see them at trhe moment but both Heikki Kovalainen (seventh) and Giancarlo Fisichella (eighth) had troubles which blunted their efforts.

Jarno Trulli was the last man in the top 10 in his Toyota but seemed to be struggling much more than Schumacher.

Further back the two Red Bulls were bunched with Mark Webber ahead of David Coulthard despite running wide at Priory on his fastest lap.

It was a poor weekend for Honda with Rubens Barrichello 14th. Rubens said that he could have done no more. Jenson Button failed to get through Q1, which was sad indeed for the erstwhile hero of British F1 who seems to be stuck in the doldrums once again. Right behind Button was Super Aguri's Anthony Davidson from a team that has a tiny budget compared to Honda F1. davidson might have done better if he had not gone off on his qualifying run

Scott Speed was 15th in his Toro Rosso while Tonio Liuzzi was right behind him despite a gearshift problem in Q2, which meant he could not have a decent run.

Adrian Sutil, Takuma Sato and Christijan Albers finished off the grid.

Hamilton has won the races he has so far started from pole. But this is going to be a tough one.