IN-FORM Lewis Hamilton was relishing the atmosphere at Hockenheim as he grabbed the ninth pole position of his Formula One career ahead of today's German Grand Prix.
Flying high from his British Grand Prix triumph a fortnight ago, the 23-year-old McLaren star snatched top spot on the grid by just under 0.2 seconds from Ferrari's Felipe Massa.
Hamilton, who can grab the outright lead in the world championship i
f he wins the race today, said: "It's quite cool coming here to Germany. I've had some great races here, but not just here – also at the Nurburgring as well.
"Driving into the stadium, it's a bit like a football crowd, but the support means a lot and I'm really grateful.
"I feel pretty chilled and happy with what we've done so far, but it's (the race] that counts and when Heikki (Kovalainen] and I have to do the best job possible.
"I feel we have the pace, so we will keep on pushing."
The threat of rain had hung heavy in the air before the start, but despite one sharp shower 15 minutes ahead of the pit lane opening, it failed to arrive and so shake up the grid.
It means Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Kovalainen starts from third, followed by a stunning fourth for Jarno Trulli in his Toyota.
Renault's Fernando Alonso heads the third row in fifth, with Kimi Raikkonen in sixth place.
Behind Raikkonen come BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, with the Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and David Coulthard sandwiching the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel in eighth and 10th.
After the 15-minute Q2, Toyota's Timo Glock missed out on a place in the top 10 by just 0.027secs and will start 11th.
Another German in BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld disappointed his army of fans by failing to make it into Q3 for the third time this year.
Nico Rosberg starts 13th in his Williams, followed by Jenson Button in his Honda, an improvement of late as he had failed to make Q2 in his previous three grands prix.
Leading final positions after qualifying: 1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1min 15.666secs, 2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:15.859, 3 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:16.143, 4 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:16.191, 5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:16.385, 6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:16.389, 7 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:16.521, 8 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:17.014, 9 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:17.244, 10 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 1:17.503, 11 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:15.508, 12 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:15.581, 13 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:15.633, 14 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 1:15.701, 15 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:15.858, 16 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:16.083, 17 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault 1:16.189, 18 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 1:16.246, 19 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:16.657, 20 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:16.963
The full article contains 535 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
