Hamilton on pole in Japan
Lewis Hamilton struck the first blow in the fight for the world championship title as the McLaren driver produced a stunning last lap to snatch pole position away from team-mate Fernando Alonso for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s time of 1 minute 25.368 seconds around a damp Fuji Speedway edged out closest rival Alonso by just seven one hundredths of a second to hand the 22-year-old a decisive advantage for the 67-lap race.
Kimi Raikkonen’s slim championship hopes took a blow as he could only claim third in his Ferrari while team-mate Felipe Massa was fourth.
A satisfied Hamilton said: ``It was a good session for us, the whole weekend has started off a little bit better than others.
“It was a good car today in tricky conditions. I’m very, very fortunate the team did a fantastic job in getting it set up right.
“When you’re out there you don’t really know where you are and they just timed it to perfection.”
Hamilton said of his crucial final lap: “It was quite a good lap, I was happy with it. I improved, cleaned up a couple of corners.”
