Don't forget to watch the US Grand Prix today at Indianapolis!
Come on Lewis!
F1-ITV Reports;
Formula 1s newest winner Lewis Hamilton worked some more rookie magic at Indianapolis on Saturday, out-duelling McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso for his second pole position in as many weeks.
Alonso was the favourite heading into qualifying, having been fastest in all three practice sessions, and duly set the pace in both knock-out stages.
But when it came to the final 15-minute shootout for pole, Hamilton rose to the occasion superbly, uncorking two flawless laps to deny Alonso the opportunity of reasserting himself as McLarens standard-bearer.
As it turned out, Lewis first hot lap in Q3 would have been good enough for pole but he went even faster on his second run to secure the top spot by 0.169s.
Alonso didnt appear to make any major mistakes but came up 0.115s short on his first attempt and a little further adrift on his final lap.
As McLaren annexed its third consecutive front-row lockout, Ferrari was again consigned to the second row although that was cause for relief as much as disappointment given the strong BMW Sauber challenge.
Nick Heidfeld clocked the second quickest time in Q1 and looked a real threat to beat the Ferraris, but ultimately the German wound up a mere 0.008s behind Kimi Raikkonen in fifth place.
Once again Felipe Massa had the edge over Raikkonen and nabbed third on the grid, the best part of 0.4s shy of Hamiltons benchmark.
Heikki Kovalainen produced the best qualifying performance of his rookie campaign so far to go sixth fastest, more than 0.6s and four places ahead of Renault team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella.
Nineteen-year-old German debutant Sebastian Vettel gave an excellent account of himself on his first acquaintance with the demanding three-part qualifying format, safely clearing the Q1 and Q2 hurdles and claiming seventh on the grid in the second BMW.
Jarno Trulli was eighth in the faster of the Toyotas ahead of the leading Red Bull of Mark Webber.
The Australians team-mate David Coulthard spun in Q1 and narrowly missed the cut for Q3 but from 11th on the grid has the advantage of being able to alter his fuel strategy for raceday.
Ralf Schumacher made it through the first knock-out stage for the first time in four races and wound up 12th in the second Toyota.
Jenson Button will start 13th for Honda ahead of Williams Nico Rosberg, who will be disappointed with his result after looking a contender for the top seven throughout practice.
Rubens Barrichello in the other Honda and Super Aguris Anthony Davidson will share the eighth row, the Briton doing a fine job to make the cut for Q2.
Alex Wurz was caught out by an unexpected change in the handling of his Williams-Toyota and could only manage 17th place.
Takuma Sato (Super Aguri) was next up, leaving the Toro Rossos and Spykers to bring up the rear.
US Grand Prix starting grid
1. HAMILTON McLaren
2. ALONSO McLaren
3. MASSA Ferrari
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
5. HEIDFELD BMW
6. KOVALAINEN Renault
7. VETTEL BMW
8. TRULLI Toyota
9. WEBBER Red Bull
10. FISICHELLA Renault
11. COULTHARD Red Bull
12. SCHUMACHER Toyota
13. BUTTON Honda
14. ROSBERG Williams
15. BARRICHELLO Honda
16. DAVIDSON Super Aguri
17. WURZ Williams
18. SATO Super Aguri
19. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
20. SPEED Toro Rosso
21. SUTIL Spyker
22. ALBERS Spyker
Come on Lewis!
F1-ITV Reports;
Formula 1s newest winner Lewis Hamilton worked some more rookie magic at Indianapolis on Saturday, out-duelling McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso for his second pole position in as many weeks.
Alonso was the favourite heading into qualifying, having been fastest in all three practice sessions, and duly set the pace in both knock-out stages.
But when it came to the final 15-minute shootout for pole, Hamilton rose to the occasion superbly, uncorking two flawless laps to deny Alonso the opportunity of reasserting himself as McLarens standard-bearer.
As it turned out, Lewis first hot lap in Q3 would have been good enough for pole but he went even faster on his second run to secure the top spot by 0.169s.
Alonso didnt appear to make any major mistakes but came up 0.115s short on his first attempt and a little further adrift on his final lap.
As McLaren annexed its third consecutive front-row lockout, Ferrari was again consigned to the second row although that was cause for relief as much as disappointment given the strong BMW Sauber challenge.
Nick Heidfeld clocked the second quickest time in Q1 and looked a real threat to beat the Ferraris, but ultimately the German wound up a mere 0.008s behind Kimi Raikkonen in fifth place.
Once again Felipe Massa had the edge over Raikkonen and nabbed third on the grid, the best part of 0.4s shy of Hamiltons benchmark.
Heikki Kovalainen produced the best qualifying performance of his rookie campaign so far to go sixth fastest, more than 0.6s and four places ahead of Renault team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella.
Nineteen-year-old German debutant Sebastian Vettel gave an excellent account of himself on his first acquaintance with the demanding three-part qualifying format, safely clearing the Q1 and Q2 hurdles and claiming seventh on the grid in the second BMW.
Jarno Trulli was eighth in the faster of the Toyotas ahead of the leading Red Bull of Mark Webber.
The Australians team-mate David Coulthard spun in Q1 and narrowly missed the cut for Q3 but from 11th on the grid has the advantage of being able to alter his fuel strategy for raceday.
Ralf Schumacher made it through the first knock-out stage for the first time in four races and wound up 12th in the second Toyota.
Jenson Button will start 13th for Honda ahead of Williams Nico Rosberg, who will be disappointed with his result after looking a contender for the top seven throughout practice.
Rubens Barrichello in the other Honda and Super Aguris Anthony Davidson will share the eighth row, the Briton doing a fine job to make the cut for Q2.
Alex Wurz was caught out by an unexpected change in the handling of his Williams-Toyota and could only manage 17th place.
Takuma Sato (Super Aguri) was next up, leaving the Toro Rossos and Spykers to bring up the rear.
US Grand Prix starting grid
1. HAMILTON McLaren
2. ALONSO McLaren
3. MASSA Ferrari
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
5. HEIDFELD BMW
6. KOVALAINEN Renault
7. VETTEL BMW
8. TRULLI Toyota
9. WEBBER Red Bull
10. FISICHELLA Renault
11. COULTHARD Red Bull
12. SCHUMACHER Toyota
13. BUTTON Honda
14. ROSBERG Williams
15. BARRICHELLO Honda
16. DAVIDSON Super Aguri
17. WURZ Williams
18. SATO Super Aguri
19. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
20. SPEED Toro Rosso
21. SUTIL Spyker
22. ALBERS Spyker