Hamilton takes seasons first pole as McLarens pack front row

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the European Grand Prix on Saturday to lead a McLaren 1-2 in qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the European Grand Prix on Saturday to lead a McLaren 1-2 in qualifying. Hamilton had a best lap of 1 minute,39.498 seconds around the Valencia street circuit to give the defending Formula One champion his first pole of the season.

Team mate Heikki Kovalainen slipped up at the last corner on his final flying lap and will start Sundays race from second spot.

Clearly,we have very,very good pace this weekend, said Hamilton,who is coming off his first win of the season at the Hungarian GP. We thought we would be competitive,but I dont think we thought wed be on the front row.

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Brawn GPs Rubens Barrichello will start third ahead of Red Bulls Sebastian Vettel and overall leader Jenson Button. Luca Badoer,who is replacing the injured Felipe Massa for Ferrari,qualified last on the 20-car grid on his return to F1 after a 10-year absence.

Kovalainen was poised to give Hamilton a run for pole but slid out as he came out of the penultimate turn to give Hamilton his 14th career pole and McLarens first 1-2 start since last years Hungarian GP.

Ferraris Kimi Raikkonen will start sixth ahead of Nico Rosberg of Williams and Renaults Fernando Alonso on a track that reached temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius.

Force Indias Adrian Sutil made it to the second session,and will start 12th on the grid,while team mate Giancarlo Fisichella,who was eliminated early,will be in 16th place.