Belgian Grand Prix
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Live - French GP qualifying ... Spa-Francorchamps circuit Race: Sunday 7 September at 1300 BST Coverage: Live on ITV, BBC Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sport website
Lewis Hamilton edged out main title rival Felipe Massa in the dying seconds of qualifying to capture pole position for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.
Massa had claimed provisional pole for Ferrari only for Hamilton to put his McLaren across the line in one minute 47.338 seconds - 0.340 secs quicker.
Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren overhauled Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari to take third place on the grid.
Hamilton's pole in Spa was his fifth of the season and 11th of his career.
Nick Heidfeld, who set the fastest lap in final practice, kept up his improved run of form to take fifth for BMW Sauber with team-mate Robert Kubica in eighth.
Renault's Fernando Alonso claimed sixth spot ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber.
The two Toro Rossos of Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top ten.
The Ferraris had come to Spa expecting to press their title challenge on a circuit that traditionally favours the Italian marque.
McLaren, however, found the cool temperatures to their liking and consistently eked out faster times than the Ferraris in all three qualifying sessions.
And Hamilton, who leads the drivers' championship standings, by six points timed his lap to perfection on the fast and flowing Spa circuit.
"The team made no mistakes, and I made no mistakes," said Hamilton, 23. "I feel great.
"Coming from Valencia (the European Grand Prix two weeks ago) I knew we had work to do.
"But I feel better than ever and I'm struggling not to smile. Tomorrow will be a challenging day but with the car and the package we'll be hard to beat."
Grid positions for the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps:
1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1 min 47.338 secs
2. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:47.678
3. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:47.815
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:47.992
5. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:48.315
6. Fernando Alonso (Spn) Renault 1:48.504
7. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:48.736
8. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:48.763
9. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.951
10. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:50.319
11. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:46.949
12. Nelson Piquet (Brz) Renault 1:46.965
13. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:46.995
14. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:47.018
15. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:47.429
16. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:48.153
17. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:48.211
18. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 1:48.226
19. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1:48.268
20. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 1:48.447
(BBC)
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