Sport - Racing : Motor

Alonso wins pole for British Grand Prix

SILVERSTONE: Season-points leader Fernando Alonso of Renault claimed the pole for Sunday's British Grand Prix, his fourth of the season and the seventh of his career.

Alonso timed 1 minute, 19.905 seconds at the Silverstone course in Saturday's qualifying and was followed by Kim Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes in 1:19.932. BAR-Honda's Jenson Button was next in 1:20.207, followed by McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya in 1:20.382.

Despite the second quickest time in qualifying, Raikkonen will start 10 places further back on the grid after he was forced to change a blown engine after Saturday practice. Under Formula One rules, an engine change forces a 10-place penalty on the starting grid.

The same thing happened to Raikkonen in last week's French GP. After qualifying third, he was forced to start 13th after an engine change. He still managed finishing a distant-second to Alonso.

``It's not an ideal situation,'' the taciturn Finn said. ``There's nothing I can do. We will see what happens tomorrow.

``It is not the way to try to win the championship.''

Asked if Raikkonen was still a threat, Alonso replied: ``Yeah, of course. We saw last weekend he finished second. When you have a quick car you can overtake easy and, for sure, McLaren has a quick car here.''

Tough season

Raikkonen has had a hard-luck season and trails leader Alonso by 24 points through 10 races. Alonso has 69 points, followed by Raikkonen with 45 and Michael Schumacher of Ferrari with 40.

In the last seven races, Raikkonen has won three and was leading in two others when he dropped out while leading. He did not race the United States Grand Prix when Michelin said its tyres were unsafe for the Indy circuit.

Raikkonen was forced to abandon Saturday's second practice session when he blew his engine on the second lap. In the first session an hour earlier, the Finn was the quickest — and he was among the quickest in Friday's practice.

Seven-time and defending Formula One champion Schumacher had the 10th quickest time — 1:21.275.

Narain 17th

India's Narain Karthikeyan produced a sparkling drive under difficult conditions to clinch the 17th position.

Narain's performance made up for the disappointment of his Jordan teammate Tiego Monteiro being relegated to back grid as a penalty for engine change during the practice sessions on Friday.

Monteiro will start 20th after he completed a formal one lap at the qualifying at the Silverstone circuit.

``I had a decent lap today,'' Narain said. ``I think the wind was a bit stronger compared to this morning so it changed the balance of the car a little but I think my time was pretty good and showed that we are well ahead of the Minardis.

"Monteiro had an engine blow out so I had to change my strategy and qualified with 40kg of extra fuel."

``Unfortunately after the penalty ... we had to adapt our strategy for the race tomorrow. This explains why I only did an installation lap,'' Monteiro said.

``It is really a pity because I was quite fast on this circuit yesterday and this morning. The car was also doing really well so it is a bit frustrating,'' Monteiro added.

The top 10: 1. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Renault, 1m:19.905s; 2. x-Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:19.932; 3. Jenson Button, Britain, BAR-Honda, 1:20.207; 4. Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombia, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:20.382; 5. Jarno Trulli, Italy, Toyota, 1:20.459; 6. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, Ferrari, 1:20.906; 7. Giancarlo Fisichella, Italy, Renault, 1:21.010; 8. Takuma Sato, Japan, BAR-Honda, 1:21.114; 9. Ralf Schumacher, Germany, Toyota, 1:21.191; 10. Michael Schumacher, Germany, Ferrari, 1:21.275. 17. Narain Karthikeyan, India, Jordan-Toyota, 1:23.583. — Agencies

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