Hamilton keeps his head up despite missed pole

By Alan Baldwin

SILVERSTONE, England (Reuters) - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton refused to be downcast on Saturday after failing to repeat his 2007 British Grand Prix pole position in front of his home fans.

The 23-year-old, who has slipped from championship leader to fourth overall after two races without a point, qualified fourth with Finnish team mate Heikki Kovalainen on pole for the first time.

The Briton made a mistake on his first timed lap that pitched him across the gravel at the exit of Priory and he said the conditions had been tricky.

The only consolation for Hamilton was that the two championship frontrunners, Ferrari's Felipe Massa and BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica, had technical problems that left them further down the grid.

"Heikki did a fantastic job today and rightly deserves to be on pole position," Hamilton told reporters. "Fourth is not bad, I'm quite happy with it to be honest. I'll do the best job I can with it tomorrow.

"The weather will be up and down, I'm looking forward to an exciting race."

The statistics also offered some succour, with the race going to the driver on pole position only twice in the past 10 years at Silverstone.

On the other hand, Britain has not had a winner at the circuit since David Coulthard, now in his final season, for McLaren in 2000.