LINE by line, Lewis Hamilton is rewriting the record books. Already on the way to becoming the first driver to win the world championship in his debut season, the 22-year-old will start his home grand prix on pole position after a stunning final lap in qualifying at Silverstone yesterday.

His joy may be tempered, however, by the comments yesterday of Max Mosley, the president of the sport’s governing body, who said that Hamilton and his McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso could be deducted points over the Ferrari spying affair.

Mosley contradicted the remarks last week of Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s commercial rights holder, who said there was “no way” the drivers would be affected if their team were found guilty of any impropriety, which McLaren strongly denies. “It is only in the most exceptional circumstances that a penalty for a team is different from a penalty for the driver,” said Mosley, noting that teams were responsible for the actions of their employees. Mike Coughlan, the McLaren chief designer, was suspended by the team last week after documents from rivals Ferrari were allegedly found in his possession.

On the track, Hamilton took his third pole of the season in his Mer-cedes-McLaren, one tenth of a second ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Twice before, in Canada and America, the Briton has driven to victory from pole. Fernando Alonso, the winner here last year in a Renault, will start from the second row behind his teammate. Victory today would extend Hamilton’s 14-point lead over Alonso with eight of the 17 races left.

Hamilton has finished on the podium in all eight races so far, an unprecedented run for a debutant, but today would be a truly famous victory. Hamilton was cheered on by a crowd of 80,000, a record for a British Grand Prix Saturday, and saluted by a host of banners draped over the railings on every corner of the circuit. When he flashed round the final corner to record the quickest time, the grandstand rose to acclaim him.

“There was a lot of pressure on me and on the whole team,” said Hamilton. “But I gained huge confidence from the crowds. It wasn’t just one group, it was the whole grandstand and all round the track. I saw all the flags waving and I got a big buzz.”

Languishing in an unaccustomed fourth place for much of the hour-long session, Hamilton left his charge until the very last minute as Raikkonen and Alonso duelled for pole. But Raikkonen slipped wide onto the grass into Woodcote. That gave Hamilton his chance and, as the crowds began to sense another chapter in the fairytale, he did not let it go, hurtling around one of the calendar’s quickest circuits to post a time of 1min 19.997sec, the only driver to break the 80sec barrier in final qualifying.