Hamilton still expecting hard battle

The McLaren driver, who scored his maiden pole and win in last year's race, posted a best time of 1:17.886 to finish over six tenths ahead of BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was down in third, nearly a whole second behind the championship leader.

Despite the gap to his main rivals, Hamilton is expecting a hard fight for victory tomorrow.

"As you have seen, the last few races have been difficult, with the experience of leading the race so we can anticipate it will be similar, and the track surface isn't great so it will make it tricky and I am sure these guys will push us hard," Hamilton said.

"We will try and do the best job we can and score as many points as possible. We have to make sure we are in the points."

The McLaren driver said, however, that he was delighted with his performance after a trouble-free day.

"It has been a fantastic Saturday for me," admitted the Briton. "I felt comfortable since yesterday in the car. This morning was tricky for everyone, with the track quite slippery. We remained positive and kept car the same.

"In qualifying I felt at home. The team did a great job in the early stages of each qualifying session. The first lap was a shocker as I nearly went wide at turn one, the last one was good - similar to last year."

Hamilton clinched pole with a last-gasp effort after having being outpaced by Kubica moments earlier.

The Briton admitted he was surprised to find so much time on his final flying lap.

"When I had just begun the lap the guys told me I was P1 but I had a feeling that Kimi was hunting me down so he would have beaten my time, so I knew I had to stick it up there. I found six or seven tenths on that lap which is incredible," he added.