McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen seized the first pole position of his Formula One career at the British Grand Prix on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Finn left his rivals trailing with a lap of one minute 21.049 seconds, more than half a second quicker than second-placed Australian Mark Webber under grey skies at Silverstone.
"Well done, you're on pole by a mile," he was told on the team radio as he crossed the line right at the end of the qualifying session to deprive Red Bull's Webber of what would have been his first pole.
Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen qualified third with Britain's Lewis Hamilton, Kovalainen's team mate, unable to match his 2007 Silverstone pole in fourth place after making a big error on his first flying lap.
Brazili's championship leader Felipe Massa was only ninth for Ferrari, with his closest rival Robert Kubica 10th for BMW-Sauber.
