Fourth pole in a row for Alonso

Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso swept to his fourth pole position in a row with a last-gasp flying lap at the British Grand Prix yesterday. The Spaniard, 21 points clear of Ferrari's Michael Schuma-cher after seven of 18 races, will have McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen alongside him.

"Four in a row boys," the 24-year-old champion whooped on the team radio as he crossed the line.

He nearly spoke too soon, with Raikkonen nailing the other front row slot, and relegating seven-times champion Schumacher to third, with the chequered flag already out to end the session.

Alonso's lap of 1:20.253 compared to Raikkonen's 1:20.397 and Schumacher's 1:20.574.

The 37-year-old German fills an all-Ferrari second row with Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa.

Alonso had predicted another Renault-Ferrari duel but he changed his tune after seeing Raikkonen re-awaken McLaren's hopes.

"I think McLaren can be a problem for us here," said the 24-year-old, who now has 13 pole positions and is chasing his third win in a row today.

"Pole position is more and more important because we know how difficult it is to overtake in Formula One these days," added the Spaniard.

"It is 20 per cent of the race probably and we did it but we have our main opponents very close to us and we have a very difficult race in front of us... hopefully we can keep the first position to the end."

Raikkonen, who is 37 points adrift of Alonso, has effectively written off his title chances but saw no reason why he could not be a race winner.

"We are not fighting for the championship really but we always try to win every race," said the Finn, who had to hustle around the circuit after his late final tyre change to start his flying lap before time ran out.

Raikkonen had not looked quick in practice but explained that McLaren had gone back to old settings after trying out some new things on Friday.

Ferrari strategy

Schumacher looked disappointed not to be on pole, although not because of what happened in Monaco, and hoped Ferrari's strategy could pay dividends.

"You'd rather be on pole position... it's much easier to plan the race from there," he said. "There's no reason not to believe that we have a package that can win the race."

Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella starts fifth with Honda's Rubens Barrichello sixth. Last year's winner for McLaren, Juan Pablo Montoya, was eighth.

Neither of Britain's two drivers stood out at their home grand prix.

Red Bull's David Coulthard will start 11th while Honda's Jenson Button qualified a dismal 19th, on the last row but one.

Only Toyota's Jarno Trulli had a more dispiriting afternoon.

The Italian, who has yet to score a point in a luckless season, will start last of all after limping down the pitlane with a cloud of smoke coming from his car's engine before he had even set a timed lap.