Briton Lewis Hamilton said his final qualifying lap yesterday was his best ever - after grabbing fourth place on the grid for today's British Grand Prix.

Both championship leader Hamilton, 25, and McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, 30, were forced to ditch their rear-blown diffuser upgrades after struggling to match the pace of rival teams during practice on Friday.

"It's a pity, but we just couldn't get them to work for us so we took them off overnight," he said.

But the 2008 champion, boosted by the support of his home fans at the new-look Silverstone circuit, managed to clock a time just 0.9 seconds shy of pace-setter German Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull.

Hamilton said: "I have to say for me this is the best lap I've ever had.

"I think it's down to all the fans we have here - the support we have around this track is like nowhere else. British fans are the best by far.

"I don't know how I was able to get so high up, but I'm so, so happy. I think it's a great position for us."

His team-mate and defending champion Button, who is six points behind him after nine of this year's 19 races, struggled to just 14th on the grid.

Hamilton felt it was a shame that he was unable to run with a fully-updated package, but insisted that it will not be long before they have the car running well.

"I'm so proud of my team because we pushed so hard all year, but in the last couple of days they pushed longer and harder than ever to get this update package, which is an improvement.

"But we just were unable to work it and unfortunately we had to take it off last night."

In spite of being almost a second slower than the Red Bulls, Hamilton remained positive about his chances in the race.

"The race is not over. These guys are clearly faster than us, but we can still get a great result tomorrow."