Hamilton leads all-McLaren front row

The McLaren driver held a comfortable 0.4-second advantage over the rest of the field after his first Q3 flying lap, and although his rivals closed in, he managed to improve to 1:20.899 to secure the 10th pole of his Formula One career.

Hamilton will lead an all-McLaren front row after his teammate Heikki Kovalainen vaulted on to the outside of the front row with his last lap, having previously languished back in ninth.

Felipe Massa salvaged Ferrari honour in third place, as Kimi Raikkonen could only manage sixth place following another low-key performance.

BMW's Robert Kubica completed the second row, but his teammate Nick Heidfeld had another disastrous qualifying session. His first Q1 flying lap was only good enough for 15th place, and he was rapidly pushed into the elimination zone and then hit traffic on his second run, leaving him 16th and gesturing in frustration at Sebastien Bourdais.

Toyota's Timo Glock was the sensation of the qualifying session - earning an F1 career-best fifth on the grid, four places clear of teammate Jarno Trulli.

Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet took seventh and 10th for Renault, with Red Bull's Mark Webber and David Coulthard placing eighth and 13th respectively.

Toro Rosso were unable to repeat their strong morning form, and had to settle for 11th and 14th places with Sebastian Vettel and Bourdais - although the young German was only edged out of the top ten in the final seconds of Q2, and outpaced his teammate by 0.8 seconds.

Williams also had a troubled session. A hydraulic problem stranded Nico Rosberg in the garage in Q2 and left him 15th on the grid, two places ahead of teammate Kazuki Nakajima.

Rubens Barrichello was the other major name knocked out in Q1, Honda's veteran driver only managing 18th on the grid. But his teammate Jenson Button produced an excellent lap to leap up to 12th at the end of Q2.

Pos  Driver        Team                 Q1        Q2        Q3      Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     1:19.376  1:19.473  1:20.899  12
 2.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     1:19.945  1:19.480  1:21.140  16
 3.  Massa         Ferrari              1:19.578  1:19.068  1:21.191  16
 4.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           1:20.053  1:19.776  1:21.281  19
 5.  Glock         Toyota               1:19.980  1:19.246  1:21.326  24
 6.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              1:20.006  1:19.546  1:21.516  19
 7.  Alonso        Renault              1:20.229  1:19.816  1:21.698  15
 8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     1:20.073  1:20.046  1:21.732  18
 9.  Trulli        Toyota               1:19.942  1:19.486  1:21.767  20
10.  Piquet        Renault              1:20.583  1:20.131  1:22.371  19
11.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:20.157  1:20.144            17
12.  Button        Honda                1:20.888  1:20.332            15
13.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     1:20.505  1:20.502            16
14.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:20.640  1:20.963            16
15.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      1:20.748                      10
16.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           1:21.045                       7
17.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      1:21.085                       9
18.  Barrichello   Honda                1:21.332                       8
19.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari  1:21.670                       9
20.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari  1:22.113                      10

All timing unofficial