Kovalainen targets win after maiden pole

The McLaren driver stormed to first place with a last-gasp effort that put him over half a second ahead of second-placed Mark Webber in the Red Bull.

Kovalainen overshadowed teammate Lewis Hamilton in his home race, the Briton finishing fourth nearly eight tenths off the Finn's pace.

Now Kovalaianen wants to repeat the result in the race.

"It has been going really well all weekend," said Kovalainen, who has scored just one podium finish this season. "We managed to put some more pace to the car last week and all week here we have been carrying on from that.

"Obviously I have been spending time around Silverstone for many years of my life, I have family and friends around here so it's great to have first pole here and tomorrow I'll try and carry on from where we are today."

He added: "Kimi and Mark are around me are both are good drivers, very competitive, so it will not be easy tomorrow.

"Our pace has been very good all week and I am confident our strategy will be a strong one as well and tomorrow the target is to win the grand prix."

Kovalainen admitted the conditions were very tricky near the end of qualifying, when the wind began to pick up.

"It was quite difficult conditions especially in the beginning of first session," he said. "There was quite a dark sky and it was possible to get some rain and on my first run in Q1 I had a bit of traffic and didn't manage a good lap so had to do it before the rain came.

"Then the second part of qualifying went much better and in the last part we had quite difficult conditions. I think the wind picked up. The first run I was all over the place but the second run I put it together much better. I am very happy about it."