World champion Fernando Alonso claimed a stunning last-gasp pole position for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Saturday.
SILVERSTONE (England): World champion Fernando Alonso claimed a stunning last-gasp pole position for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone here on Saturday.
Lying behind German Michael Schumacher in the dying seconds of the session, Spaniard Alonso, 24, set a lap time of one minute 20.253 to claim his fourth pole in a row. His smile got bigger as Finn Kimi Raikkonen demoted seven-times world champion Schumacher to third, with an even later lap just over one tenth of a second slower than Alonso's.
That left the Ferrari driver, who trails Alonso by 21 points in the drivers' championship, in third, alongside his Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella starts fifth in his Renault alongside the ever-improving Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in a Honda.
German Ralf Schumacher in a Toyota, Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in a McLaren, and the BMW Sauber pair of German Nick Heidfeld and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve rounded out the top ten.
Session two had no surprises as Briton David Coulthard led the list of eliminated cars, although the 35-year-old Red Bull driver claimed Montoya blocked him during his best lap -- something the race stewards investigated.
German Nico Rosberg, in a Williams, Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi in a Toro Rosso, Austrian Christian Klien in a Red Bull and American Scott Speed in a Toro Rosso also failed to make the top-ten shootout.
The first 15-minute session saw high drama with Australian Mark Webber surprisingly missing the cut in 17th place for Williams ahead of Dutchman Christijan Albers in a Midland.
An even bigger shock was Briton Jenson Button, who could only set the 19th fastest time for Honda in front of his home crowd.
After returning to the pits, he was forced to stop at a weighbridge by race stewards -- losing him more than a minute at a crucial time.
The other eliminated drivers were Japanese Takuma Sato and his French teammate Franck Montagny -- who spun -- in the Super Aguris and Italian Jarno Trulli, whose disastrous start to the season continued when his engine appeared to let go before he had completed a lap.
The opening session also saw an off-track moment for Raikkonen, who abandoned a lap after he drove over the grass with two corners of the lap to go.
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