LEWIS Hamilton seized pole position from Ferrari rival Felipe Massa at the Belgian Grand Prix yesterday to boost his Formula One title hopes.
The 23-year-old championship leader will start today's race with the on-form Brazilian alongside on the front row and both drivers chasing their fifth victory of the season.
Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who has won the last three Belgi
an Grands Prix at his favourite circuit, qualified fourth with fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen third for McLaren.
McLaren's Hamilton leads Massa by six points in the championship with six races remaining, while Raikkonen is a further seven points adrift and struggling to end a winless streak dating back to the end of April. The pole position, with a fastest lap of one minute 47.338 seconds on a damp and overcast afternoon in the Ardennes forests, was the Briton's 11th of his 30-race career and fifth of the season.
"Today's been a great day for me," said Hamilton, whose team are marking the 40th anniversary of their first Formula One win at Spa in 1968 with late founder Bruce McLaren at the wheel. "The team made no mistakes and I made no mistakes. Tomorrow is going to be a challenging day for all of us but with the pace and the package we have, we are going to be hard to beat."
Massa said he had been beaten fair and square, although fuel levels could account for the difference between him and Hamilton.
"I did a great lap, almost a perfect lap, but it wasn't enough," said the Brazilian. "Sometimes you do a great lap and you're still missing something. We don't know their fuel loads but I think they were quicker in all three qualifying sessions so that is a sign that they are pretty strong here."
Germany's Nick Heidfeld, under pressure from BMW-Sauber to raise his game, beat Polish team-mate Robert Kubica in qualifying for only the second time this season with fifth place on the starting grid.
Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso, maintaining his 100 percent record of outqualifying Brazilian rookie team-mate Nelson Piquet, joined Heidfeld on the third row with Australian Mark Webber seventh for Red Bull.
Kubica was eighth with the two Toro Rossos of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, who was surprisingly quickest after the first session, and young German Sebastian Vettel filling the fifth row. "It's beginning to come together and it's been a good weekend so far," said Bourdais, whose place at the team next year remains in doubt. "I feel this track and its corners suit me better."
Scotland's David Coulthard will starts 14th on the grid in his Red Bull.
The full article contains 455 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
