Alonso sets early Silverstone pace

Fernando Alonso took advantage of his pole position to lead the early stages of the British Grand Prix at a surprisingly sunny Silverstone.

The Ferrari driver did not get off the line quite as well as fellow front-row man Mark Webber and aggressively cut across the Red Bull driver to lead into turn one as the weather finally relented after a sodden weekend.

Behind the lead duo Michael Schumacher held on to his third place while Felipe Massa got ahead of Sebastian Vettel to take fourth place, with the Red Bull driver making slight contact with the Ferrari after an overambitious overtaking attempt at Club.

It was a mixed start for the home favourites as Lewis Hamilton remained eighth while McLaren team-mate Jenson Button had climbed up to 13th place from 16th.

But Paul di Resta had an awful start as contact saw him spin off with a puncture coming on to the Wellington Straight, with the Scot then pitting twice before retiring.

The Caterham of Vitaly Petrov did not start the race after developing a hydraulic problem on the way to the grid.