SILVERSTONE, England (AFP) - A delighted Heikki Kovalainen grabbed his maiden Formula One pole position on Saturday with a near-flawless qualifying display at the British Grand Prix.

The Finnish McLaren driver produced an inspired final lap of 1:21.049, over half a second faster than Red Bull's Mark Webber who sprang a surprise to take second place on the grid.

Kovalainen has been based in the UK for most of his racing career and was clearly thrilled to finally grab a pole position on one of his favourite tracks.

He said: "I have been based around the Silverstone area for many years of my life and I have a lot of family and friends in the area so it is great to get the first pole position here.

"I knew I just needed to focus 100 percent and the results would eventually come. Today is a big step towards that. I don't think it was a perfect lap but it was quite tidy.

"I was very happy to take pole position but the race is tomorrow and the target for this weekend was to win the race. There is still a long way to go and it is going to be a long race. I look forward to it."

Even after such an impressive performance Kovalainen acknowledged that he will have his work cut out to add a maiden race win to his pole position.

As well as Webber, the Finn will have the Ferrari of world champion Kimi Raikkonen and also his McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton breathing down his neck from third and fourth on the grid respectively.

Kovalainen added: "Kimi and Mark are both are very good drivers, very competitive, so of course it is not going to be easy tomorrow. But our pace has been good all week and I am sure our strategy will be a good one as well.

"As I said, it is a long race and anything can happen."

Webber, enjoying a consistently strong season for Red Bull, admitted to being quite surprised after recording the British team's first ever front row grid position.

He said: "It was a bit of a surprise actually, we have been pretty strong most of the weekend but we didn't realise how strong until halfway through qualifying.

"In relation to the rest of the guys we are normally competing with we look to have a bit of a margin. It is a credit to the team, they have worked so hard over the last few weeks.

"About 5 percent of the job is done, we have got a race tomorrow and it could be wet as well.

"There is a long way to go but we did our job today and I felt very comfortable in the car."

BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld will start fifth just ahead of Spanish Renault driver Fernando Alonso.

Nelson Piquet steered the other Renault to seventh on the grid while Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari's world championship leader Felipe Massa will start eighth and ninth respectively.

The BMW of Poland's Robert Kubica completes the top ten.

The first qualifying mini-session began in dry, cloudy conditions but with the threat of rain ever-present, all the drivers immediately took to the track.

At the top of the times Kovalainen led the way, marginally ahead of Hamilton and Vettel, while at the bottom the slowest five drivers were eliminated from contention.

Force India's Italian veteran Giancarlo Fisichella was the first man to be eliminated and will start on the back row of the grid alongside his German teammate Adrian Sutil.

Nico Rosberg spent the session fighting with his Williams and was knocked out at the first stage for the first time this season. He will start from 18th on the grid.

The final drivers to go were Honda pair Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The Englishman and the Brazilian will start from 17th and 16th respectively.

Hamilton was quickest in the second mini-session with Kovalainen and Webber just behind.

This time Williams' Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima was the first man to be eliminated and will start the race from 15th, just behind Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais who will start on the seventh row of the grid.

The last two drivers not to make the top-ten shootout were Trulli's teammate Timo Glock and Red Bull's David Coulthard who will take the 12th and 11th positions respectively.

Qualifying times:

1. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.049

2. Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull-Renault 1:21.554

3. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 1:21.706

4. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.835

5. Nick Heidfeld (GER) BMW Sauber 1:21.873

6. Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault 1:22.029

7. Nelson Piquet Jr (BRA) Renault 1:22.491

8. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.251

9. Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari 1:23.305

10. Robert Kubica (POL) BMW Sauber