Lewis Hamilton in pole position at the British Grand Prix

Taking advantage of Kimi Raikkonen's mistake, Lewis Hamilton will start at pole position for the Formula-1 British Grand Prix on Sunday.

Lewis Hamilton in pole position at the British Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton delighted his local fans as he took the pole position for the British Grand Prix on Sunday. This is also the first time since 1996 a Britton will start at the No.1 spot at Silverstone. With time of 1:19.997 Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position for the third time this season, fourth for McLaren-Mercedes. Home turf will also help the 22-year-old Formula 1 driver. After the qualifiers, Hamilton told the press:

"That was an intense qualifying session. The Ferraris were extremely quick, as was Fernando. I lost a bit of time on my first flying lap, so I really just had to pull it all out and thankfully I did a sweet job on that last lap. I really couldn't have done it without the team, who changed the tires so quickly and got me out in time."

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) ran slightly wide coming out of the last corner and his tire touched some grass, ultimately slowing him down tenths of second, but enough to loose the pole position to Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen will start second at the British Grand Prix, finishing his qualifier in 1m 20.099s. Kimi Raikkonen, who won the French Grand Prix two weeks ago, commented on his results: "I can't hide my disappointment. It's not worth spending too long thinking about it. Now we only have to concentrate on the race."

Fernando Alonso, who initially stole the initiative, stopping the clock at 1:20.147, will start third on Sunday. Still, Fernando Alonso seems satisfied with the third spot: "I am quite happy with the car and we performed well today. Obviously I wanted to be on pole position but third place was the best we could do."

The other Ferrari driver, Felipe Massa, will start fourth at the British Grand Prix. Massa's time on Saturday was 1m 20.265s, making for a very close qualifying session among the top drivers of Formula 1. Felipe Massa vowed to bank on tactics after the start of the British GP: "We know our car works well in race trim and tomorrow afternoon's race will be a long and difficult one with strategy making the difference."

Here are the 2007 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix top ten starters:

1 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
2 Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari)
3 Fernando Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes)
4 Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
5 Robert Kubica (BMW)
6 Ralf Schumacher (Toyota)
7 Heikki Kovalainen (Renault)
8 Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault)
9 Nick Heidfeld (BMW)
10 Jarno Trulli (Toyota)

Quick look at the odds on the British Grand Prix winner by the bookmakers, and Lewis Hamilton is the overall favorite to win the Sunday Formula 1 race. Top three as posted by the sportsbooks:

Bookmaker: Lewis Hamilton (+120), Fernando Alons0 (+300), Felipe Massa (+400)

Bodog Sports: Lewis Hamilton (11/8), Kimi Raikkonen (3/2), Felipe Massa and F. Alonso (4/1)

Bet365 (UK): Lewis Hamilton (5/4), Kimi Raikkonen (11/8), Fernando Alonso (9/2)

Published on 07/07/2007