Raikkonen Takes First Pole of the Season - Britain

Finn Kimi Raikkonen claimed McLaren-Mercedes' first pole position of the season as he produced a remarkable recovery to top the qualifying times for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Saturday.

Raikkonen, who was quickest in the two morning practice sessions in McLaren's new MP4-19B car, brightened McLaren's miserable season with the third pole of his career.

The result bettered his fourth place start at the Nurburgring this season and the team's best grid position when David Coulthard started from third in France last weekend.

Raikkonen was four-tenths down on Rubens Barrichello after the first sector but made up time over the final two-thirds of the lap to take pole from Barrichello by 0.072 seconds.

Last year's Silverstone race winner Barrichello had looked set to take pole only to be denied by Raikkonen, while home favourite Jenson Button took third place as the last man on track.

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher begins from fourth place ahead of the quick-starting Renaults of Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso and McLaren's David Coulthard.

Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams-BMW, BAR-Honda driver Takuma Sato and Jaguar's Mark Webber completed the top-ten.

Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella, who was due to receive a 10-place punishment after an engine change on Friday, spun in the first session and abandoned his lap and then opted against going out in the grid-deciding session.

Schumacher put his Ferrari on provisional pole as the seventh man on track before team-mate Barrichello went four-tenths of a second quicker to take top spot.

The first qualifying session and turned into a game of cat-and-mouse as drivers deliberately posted slow laps times to run early in the second hour with rain expected to arrive.

Ferrari duo Schumacher and Barrichello had run early in the crucial qualifying session after both made mistakes during the first session.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (15) Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 25.050 58.567 1:18.233 2. (9) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 24.611 58.297 1:18.305 + 0.072 3. (20) Button BAR-Honda (M) 24.944 58.624 1:18.580 + 0.347 4. (7) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 24.888 58.720 1:18.710 + 0.477 5. (16) Trulli Renault (M) 25.141 58.938 1:18.715 + 0.482 6. (14) Alonso Renault (M) 24.991 58.857 1:18.811 + 0.578 7. (10) Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 25.203 59.060 1:19.148 + 0.915 8. (6) Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 25.264 59.009 1:19.378 + 1.145 9. (8) Sato BAR-Honda (M) 25.368 59.603 1:19.688 + 1.455 10. (4) Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 25.279 59.613 1:20.004 + 1.771 11. (19) Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 25.374 59.969 1:20.202 + 1.969 12. (5) Gene Williams-BMW (M) 25.373 59.932 1:20.335 + 2.102 13. (18) Panis Toyota (M) 25.573 60.198 1:20.335 + 2.102 14. (13) da Matta Toyota (M) 25.428 60.278 1:20.545 + 2.312 15. (3) Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 25.724 60.852 1:21.559 + 3.326 16. (17) Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 26.101 61.736 1:22.458 + 4.225 17. (1) Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 26.210 61.453 1:22.677 + 4.444 18. (12) Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 26.551 62.481 1:23.437 + 5.204 19. (11) Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 26.733 63.005 1:24.117 + 5.884 20. (2) Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) No Time All timing unofficial