Spaniard Fernando Alonso slid and splashed through atrocious conditions to hand Ferrari their first Formula One pole since 2010 in a rain-delayed British Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
The championship leader, last year's winner at Silverstone, was joined on the front row by Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber - also his closest rival in the standings after eight of 20 races.
The Spaniard, who won last year's Silverstone race and is leading this season's drivers standings, clocked a fastest lap of the very wet Silverstone circuit in one minute 51.746 seconds.
That scintillating effort edged out Mark Webber of Red Bull by less than five hundredths of a second.
Despite almost missing out on Q3, Alonso, fastest in the morning, rose to the occasion and set his fastest time on his final lap which was enough to see off Webber and claim Ferrari's first pole in Britain since 2003.
The double champion said he was delighted to have put an end to Ferrari's run without poles but played down the significance of his grid position, suggesting the weather would have the biggest role to play.
He said: "I'm happy to be on pole after nearly two years, but in these conditions the qualifying is probably the least important of the year but obviously for visibility it is always better to be on pole."
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