Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso seized pole position for Sunday's British Grand Prix with McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen alongside him on the front row.
The Spaniard, the runaway championship leader, sealed his fourth pole in a row with his last flying lap of the qualifying session on Saturday.
Raikkonen then swept Ferrari's seven times world champion Michael Schumacher off the front row in the dying seconds.
Schumacher, who caused uproar during Monaco qualifying two weeks ago, avoided similar controversy at Silverstone and filled an all-Ferrari second row with Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa. Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella starts fifth with Honda's Brazilian Rubens Barrichello sixth. Last year's winner for McLaren, Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, was eighth.
Neither of Britain's two drivers stood out at their home grand prix.
Red Bull's David Coulthard will start 11th while Honda's Jenson Button qualified a dismal 19th, on the last row but one.
Television reports suggested Button, who sat helplessly in his car in the garage as the final seconds of the opening session ticked away, was called to the weighbridge after his first timed lap.
Only Toyota's Jarno Trulli had a more dispiriting afternoon.
The Italian, who has yet to score a point in a luckless season, will start last of all after limping down the pitlane with a cloud of smoke coming from his car's engine before he had even set a timed lap.
Starting Grid at Silverstone
1. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren
3. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari
4. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari
5. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault
6. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda
7. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota
8. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren
9. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber
10. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BMW Sauber
11. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Ferrari
12. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Cosworth
13. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso - Cosworth
14. Christian Klien (Austria) RedBull - Ferrari
15. Scott Speed (U.S.) Toro Rosso - Cosworth
16. Tiago Monteiro (Portugal) MF1 - Toyota
17. Mark Webber (Australia) Williams - Cosworth
18. Christijan Albers (Netherlands) MF1 - Toyota
19. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda
20. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda
21. Franck Montagny (France) Super Aguri - Honda
22. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota
