SILVERSTONE, England (AFP) — Lewis Hamilton remained upbeat on Saturday after watching his McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen take pole position for the British Grand Prix.
Hamilton could only manage to secure fourth on the grid behind Kovalainen, Red Bull's Mark Webber and world champion Kimi Raikkonen, but the 23-year-old Brit is still optimistic that he can give the enthusiastic home crowd something to shout about in Sunday's race.
Hamilton said: "Obviously Heikki did a fantastic job today and rightly deserves to be on pole position, I congratulate him.
"Fourth is not bad, I am quite happy with it to be honest. I am up there and it is cool. The fuel load and everything is cool and the car felt good.
"The weather will be up and down and it will be an exciting race."
Hamilton was forced to be conservative on his final flying lap having suffered "an oversteer moment" at the Priory corner and swerved into a gravel trap on his previous attempt to record a qualifying time.
He added: "I felt comfortable in the car and the speed was there; however, on my first flying lap I ran a bit wide at the exit of Priory and went onto the gravel. Obviously I just pushed a little bit too hard and it is a pity that I missed the front row.
"However with our strategy and the predicted rain for tomorrow's race everything will be possible and I very much look forward to racing in front of my home crowd."
Hamilton's world title challenge has faltered due to his barren spell over the past two races but with championship leader Felipe Massa to start from ninth on the grid, the Stevenage born racer has a good chance to cut the ten point gap between himself and the Brazilian.
However, whether Hamilton has a chance to win the race may depend on how Kovalainen deals with the pressure of starting from the front for the first time.
All the indicators seem to suggest that the Finn will remain calm and collected, he has looked in sparkling form all week and drew warm praise from McLaren team boss Ron Dennis after clinching his maiden pole position.
"Heikki showed great determination and a lot of skill to master the gusty tricky conditions so well," Dennis said.
"His first Formula One pole position was thoroughly well deserved because he has been driving beautifully all weekend."
Dennis also took the time to dismiss as "without any foundation" a report in today's British media that he and Hamilton do not get on.
"It is not worthy of comment really," Dennis said.
"Most people know that he and I are very close. I have taken a very personal interest in his career and I enjoy his company."
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