Hamilton on pole

10:24pm Saturday 11th October 2008

Lewis Hamilton ensured he has the best chance possible of extending his World Championship lead after securing pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix in qualifying.

The McLaren driver shot to the top of the timesheet late on with a time of one minute 18.404 seconds on the Fuji Speedway circuit.

But there was disaster for Felipe Massa as the Ferrari driver will start fifth on the grid.

Kimi Raikkonen finished second with a time of 1:18.644 while Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen took third and Singapore Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso fourth for Renault.

"I'm very happy, the team have done a phenomenal job," said a delighted Hamilton. "We will push forward with the strategy we have."

Massa, who had started from pole in Singapore before a pit-stop blunder ended his chances in the race, could only manage a time of 1:18.874 and faces an uphill challenge to deny Hamilton edging closer to the world championship title.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, who had gone fastest in practice earlier today, will start sixth while Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock gave Toyota a boost in their home race by claiming seventh and eighth respectively.

Toro Rosso pair Sebastien Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais round out the top 10.

Red Bull's David Coulthard narrowly missed out on progressing to Q3 and will start in 11th place, while Honda's Jenson Button could only manage a disappointing 18th.

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