Paul di Resta secures best grid place

Scotland's Paul di Resta will start the British Grand Prix in a career-high sixth on the gird after an impressive performance in qualifying at a damp Silverstone yesterday.

Di Resta, in his Force India, is making his British Grand Prix debut.

Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber roared back to form and denied world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel a third successive British pole position. It was the team's ninth pole from nine races this season and Webber's second in a year that has yet to see him beat Vettel on a Sunday.

The German, 77 points clear of McLaren's Jenson Button and Webber with ten races remaining after Silverstone, extended his run of successive front row starts to 14 with second place on the grid.

Ferrari filled the second row, with double world champion Fernando Alonso qualifying third and Felipe Massa fourth ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button, hoping for his first home podium finish in F1. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, dominant winner of his home race in 2008, qualified only tenth on an afternoon of changing conditions and with the risk of sudden showers complicating strategy decisions.

"I don't think the position is too bad but the pace is," said Button. "It wasn't a perfect lap, we lacked balance. I don't know where our pace has gone; I can have a guess but we haven't built a car that's 1.3 seconds slower than the Ferrari."

Hamilton was equally disappointed. "There's not too much to say. The fans here are fantastic. The support we've had has been magnificent. Hopefully we can do something special for them," he said.