Hamilton on pole for his home British Grand Prix

SILVERSTONE, England, July 7 (Reuters) McLaren's championship leader Lewis Hamilton seized pole position for his home British Grand Prix in the dying seconds of qualifying today.

With the crowd standing to applaud the 22-year-old rookie, Hamilton pipped Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen with his final lap of one minute 19.997 seconds for the third pole position of his extraordinary, nine-race Formula One career.

McLaren's double world champion Fernando Alonso qualified third with Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa alongside him on the second row.

Hamilton, chasing his third win and ninth successive podium in tomorrow race, leads Alonso by 14 points in the championship.

Massa is third, 17 points behind the Briton, with Raikkonen a further five adrift.

REUTERS DH BST1906