2012 British Grand Prix: Alonso takes pole for Ferrari at Silverstone

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has taken pole position in a rain-soaked qualifying at Silverstone for the 2012 British Grand Prix.

Just like the rest of the UK in this miserable summer, Silverstone was soaked by endless rain with qualifying held up for an hour and a half as conditions became too dangerous to continue.

Before the break – halfway through Q2 – Jenson Button had already succumbed to the conditions after slowing under a yellow flag after Timi Glock spun on a wet track leaving Jenson no time to set a time. He starts in 18th place.

Star of final qualifying was Alonso, lucky to be there after squeezing a lap in under a yellow flag after the rain-delayed Q2 restarted, who managed to beat Red Bull’s Mark Webber is to second place by just 0.047 seconds, with team mate Felipe Massa doing a sterling job himself to take fifth on the grid.

Between Webber and Alonso on the front row sits Michael Schumacher – Der Regenmeister – who took his Mercedes in to third place, despite a hairy moment or two, alongside Sebastian Vettel in fourth.

The rest of the top ten is made up of Kimmi Rakkonen in sixth in the Lotus, Pastor Maldonado in seventh in the Williams, Lewis Hamilton in eighth in the McLaren, Romain Gosjean in ninth in the second Lotus and Paul di Resta in the Force India in tenth.

All of which will probably be irrelevant to the race if the heavens open again tomorrow at Silverstone.