2012 British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix

2011 Silverstone winner and championship leader Alonso is focused for his start from pole, the first for Ferrari in two years.

Home hero Jenson Button readies himself for a battling afternoon, starting down in 16th after a qualifying struggle in the rain yesterday.

Track temperature is up to 29 degrees Celsius as the spectators wait eagerly for the race to get underway in partial sunshine.

Five minutes remaining until the formation lap begins at Silverstone.

Caterham has confirmed an engine failure for Petrov, putting the Russian out of the race before it has started.

Button

Tyre strategy is a major unknown today, with dry running so far limited to the one-hour final practice session, giving teams little time to evaluate the durability of Pirelli's soft and hard compounds.

Silverstone's high-speed nature, coupled with limited rubber on the asphalt after so much rain, means some predictions suggest the soft rubber will only last 10 laps on a heavy car at the start of the race.

Teams have a free choice of starting rubber after the qualifying washout, with strategies likely to be split on the grid - some gambling on a long initial run on hard tyres to see what the weather will do.

It's all eyes to the skies for the strategists, who need to try and have their drivers in a pitstop window at the right time for any incoming showers.

One DRS zone here, detected through the opening complex before allowing the chasing driver's wing to open on the straight down to Brooklands

Here's how the grid will line up this afternoon: Pos Driver Team 1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 3. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 6. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 7. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 9. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 11. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 12. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 14. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes * 15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 16. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 17. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari ** 18. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 23. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari ** 24. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth * * Penalty for gearbox change ** Penalty for collision in Valencia

Weather conditions have improved so far and there has been no rain since the start of the GP3 support race at 08:30 local time - more than four hours ago.

The 3.66 mile circuit is bone dry, but showers are developing across central England and there remains a possibility of a heavy burst during the race. However, these showers are still some distance away from Silverstone and we will definitely start with a dry track.

Air temperature is expected to reach 17 degrees Celsius this afternoon, while a light breeze is coming from the north-west.

Petrov's car is back in the Caterham garage, with the team working frantically to try and get the Russian ready for a pitlane start.

Trouble for Petrov on his lap to the grid, with the Caterham slowing to a halt exiting Stowe.

Here's how the standings look as the season approaches half distance: World Championship standings, round 8: Drivers: Constructors: 1. Alonso 111 1. Red Bull-Renault 176 2. Webber 91 2. McLaren-Mercedes 137 3. Hamilton 88 3. Lotus-Renault 126 4. Vettel 85 4. Ferrari 122 5. Rosberg 75 5. Mercedes 92 6. Raikkonen 73 6. Sauber-Ferrari 60 7. Grosjean 53 7. Williams-Renault 45 8. Button 49 8. Force India-Mercedes 44

The huge crowd rises as the British national anthem is played by the band at the front of the grid.

Alonso

Hello everyone and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live for coverage of round nine in the 2012 FIA Formula 1 world championship - the British Grand Prix from Silverstone.

Fernando Alonso came through everything that the UK weather could throw at him yesterday to claim pole position with a lap in Q3 of 1m51.746s, ahead of Mark Webber, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

A capacity crowd has packed Silverstone since dawn and we expect another close and exciting race today. It's tight with the weather and tight on tyres after precious little dry running this weekend so far.