Alonso ends Ferrari pole drought

Fernando Alonso ended Ferrari's long wait for a pole by grabbing top spot on the grid for Sunday's British Grand Prix at the end of a rain-hit qualifying session.

For the first time in 31 races, since the Singapore Grand Prix of 2010, championship leader and double world champion Alonso will lead away the field at Silverstone.

The Spaniard is joined on the front row by Mark Webber in his Red Bull, beating the Australian by 0.047 seconds, with Mercedes' Michael Schumacher lining up in third place.

For the Britons, it was an afternoon to forget as Lewis Hamilton qualified eighth for McLaren, with team-mate Jenson Button 18th and Force India's Paul di Resta 11th.

The rain that has blighted Britain's summer again caused chaos at Silverstone. On this occasion the rain that began at the start of the opening practice session turned torrential for the beginning of Q2 which had to be red flagged just after the midway point.

It resulted in a 92-minute delay, during which time the fans in the grandstands and even the teams in the pit lane, entertained themselves with the odd Mexican wave.

Good old-fashioned brooms and a couple of road sweepers cleared the danger of the standing water off the circuit, allowing the session to recommence just after 3pm.

At that stage Button was a bystander after missing the cut from Q1, and the 32-year-old will now have to conjure a special performance after qualifying 18th.

The top 10 is made up of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel (fourth), followed by Felipe Massa, Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen and Williams' Pastor Maldonado, with Hamilton also on the fourth row. On row five it will be Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, with Romain Grosjean 10th as he did not compete in Q3 due to his earlier spin.

After claiming the 21st pole of his career, Alonso said: "It was tricky conditions for everyone. It was not easy. To complete a lap in these conditions was difficult, but I'm happy with pole for the first time in two years, for Ferrari."