The special one

And while the fans hailed the first home driver to take that privileged position at the Northamptonshire circuit since Damon Hill in his title-winning year of 1996, Hamilton admitted his deeply held belief that he has been 'blessed with a God-given talent'.

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Motor racing's very own Special One left it dramatically late to grab his third pole in four races.

Kimi Raikkonen had looked certain to start today's race with his Ferrari at the very front of the grid but Hamilton had not finished.

On the very last lap of qualifying he scorched round the circuit in 1min 19.997sec to oust the Finn by 0.102sec, with McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso third and Ferrari's Felipe Massa fourth.

Hamilton, a devout Christian, said: "My faith is very important to me. I'm a true believer. I really believe that my talent is God-given and that I've been truly blessed.

"I guess every driver is talented but some of us are prepared to work harder to make the most of our talent. Some don't possess the talent of someone like Kimi Raikkonen, but they've worked harder to become better than him. I don't know if I have more talent than Fernando Alonso, but I do know I've worked very hard."

Hamilton, 14 points clear in the race for the world championship,paid tribute to the support he received from the packed grandstands around the circuit.

"It was a very intense qualifying," he said. "Ferrari and Kimi were extremely quick and it all came down to that last lap when I had to produce a big performance. I'm very excited about tomorrow. I could see so many fans out there today. I came across the line and I could hear the crowd, but I was screaming just as loud as them. I nearly lost my voice."

Hamilton,chasing his third victory in four races, admitted that the fact that this is his home Grand Prix makes the race the most challenging of the season so far. "No race is easy, of course, but this one is the most challenging, especially in terms of the attention," he said. "I hope I can turn it to my advantage.

"I remember last year,when I won the GP2 races, especially the second race when I went from eighth to first. It was one of my best weekends in the sport and I definitely felt the crowd with me then. I hope the same can happen in the British Grand Prix."

Raikkonen, victorious in last weekend's French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, looked deflated by Hamilton's Hamilton's late act of larceny. The Finn admitted: "I'm disappointed, but hopefully I can make a good start tomorrow. It was going well but I ran off at the last corner."

Alonso had set the quickest lap of the weekend in the second 15 minutes of qualifying, but the Spaniard could not replicate that in the shoot-out.

It was an afternoon to forget for Jenson Button, who failed to get his Honda beyond the first 15-minute phase of qualifying and will start from 18th — his lowest grid position of the year.