LEWIS HAMILTON set Silverstone alight by claiming pole position for the British Grand Prix. The Englishman scorched around in a time of one minute 19.997 seconds for his third pole in four races.

Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari will also start from the front row after he set a time 0.102secs behind, with Hamilton's teammate Fernando Alonso third and Felipe Massa fourth in the other Ferrari.

But it was an afternoon to forget for another Englishman, Jenson Button, who failed to get his Honda beyond the first 15-minute phase of qualifying and will start from 18th . . . his lowest grid position of the year. But Button did not blame the back spasm that forced him to miss second practice on Friday for his poor qualifying display.

"It's fine. It's hurting, but it's not slowing me down. I'll have physio this afternoon and it shouldn't be a problem."

Robert Kubica claimed fifth place for BMW, with Toyota's Ralf Schumacher answering his critics with a season-best sixth. Heikki Kovalainen was seventh for Renault, just pipping teammate Giancarlo Fisichella.

Nick Heidfeld was ninth in the other BMW and Jarno Trulli rounded out the top 10 for Toyota. David Coulthard failed to reach the top 10 and will start 12th, one place behind his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber. Alex Wurz will start 13th for Williams, Rubens Barrichello 14th in his Honda, while the Toro Rosso pair of Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi are 15th and 16th, respectively.

But it was all about Hamilton who took the first pole position by a British driver at Silverstone since Damon Hill in his title-winning year of 1996. And the championship leader paid tribute to the support he received from the packed grandstands around the circuit. "It was an extremely intensive qualifying. Ferrari and Kimi were extremely quick and it all came down to that last lap and I had to pull it out. I'm very excited about tomorrow now. I could see so many fans out there today. It's unreal. I came across the line and I could hear the crowd, but I was screaming just as loud as them. I nearly lost my voice.

I like to make people happy.

Driving around I do see the Hamilton flags and I get a big buzz and a lot of energy."

Raikkonen was left a little flat after looking like going quickest until Hamilton pipped him at the death. The Finn explained: "It was good, but I ran off circuit on the exit of last corner. But it's nothing we can change any more. I'm disappointed, but hopefully I can make a good start and it's a long race so we will wait and see."