Lewis Hamilton claimed the ninth pole
position of his career Saturday as the McLaren-Mercedes driver qualified
fastest for Sunday's German Formula One Grand Prix.
Hamilton registered a time of 1 minute 15.666 seconds on the 4.574-kilometre
Hockenheim circuit to finish ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who clocked a
time of 1:15.859.
Heikki Kovalainen was third fastest in the second McLaren while Toyota's Jarno
Trulli will start from fourth on the grid after putting in a stunning drive.
"I knew I had it in me, I knew I had the pace, I am quite cool," said
Hamilton.
"It has been very windy, you notice it down the back straight - when you
get to stadium and then suddenly you have a big gust of wind."
Hamilton is coming off a superb win in the British home GP of Mclaren that drew
him level on 48 points with Massa and his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen at
the top of the championship standings.
He complimented his team before adding that he felt Sunday's race, another home
event due to to Mercedes, would be quite tight.
"I am surprised how close all the teams were," he said. "Between
Ferrari and McLaren it is a tenth (of a second) here or there but we have the
pace to win."
Massa, for his part, said he found qualifying "very tough" but that
both sides would only know how strong they were on Sunday when it became clear
how much fuel each car was carrying.
"It is very competitive between McLaren and Ferrari and it will be a big
competition between the four cars. Hopefully we will do everything right in the
race," said the Brazilian.
Kovalainen said he was very happy with his third place, not least because he
went off track in the final session.
"The car has been performing really well last the five or six weeks. We
have made significant steps forward," said the Finn, who took the first
pole of his career at the last F1 race at Silverstone.
Renault's Fernando Alonso qualified in fifth spot followed by the defending
world champion Raikkonen, who appeared to struggle throughout the session in
his Ferrari.
Robert Kubica of BMW-Sauber, who sits two points behind the leaders in the
driver's standings, starts from seventh on the grid alongside Red Bull's Mark
Webber while Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel and David Coulthard in the second
Red Bull complete the top 10.
Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW-Sauber will start from 12th on
the grid behind Toyota's Timo Glock after a mistake in the second qualifying
round saw the German fail to make it to the final round, dpa reported.