Hamilton celebrates 'fantastic' result

Lewis Hamilton celebrated what he labelled as a fantastic pole position at the European Grand Prix after securing the top stop for McLaren for the first time this year

Hamilton, winner of the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break, continued with his momentum at Valencia, showing the Hungaroring performance was not a one-off to clinch his 14th F1 pole position, his first since the 2008 Chinese GP.

The world champion led team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, as McLaren got a major boost to its victory chances tomorrow, especially as both drivers will have KERS at their disposal tomorrow.

"It is fantastic," said Hamilton. "Here we are, a fantastic achievement form the team in the last race and to come here not really knowing if we would have the same pace or others made a step forward..

"Here we are clearly competitive, myself and Heikki did a fantastic job. It's great to see us both there, because both of us have been wanting a one-two qualifying experience for a long time, so it is great to be here."

He added: "Fortunately we managed to do some very good laps so we didn't have to do too many, but things can be improved. We are in the best position for myself and Heikki for a podium, but it all depends on strategy, how the start goes and how the race goes.

"It is a great result for us, it is well deserved, and great to know that we can continue with the momentum of the last race."

Hamilton admitted the team was under pressure this morning after the Briton missed most of yesterday's second practice after a crash.

"Every little bit of time you get on track makes a huge difference," he said. "You try and evolve the car, you fine-tune the car even more.

"I missed the whole session, a good hour and 15-20 minutes. We had a lot of pressure on this morning, and fortunately this morning we did quite a good job. I was quite comfortable with the car this morning."