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HOCKENHEIM, Germany -- Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the German Grand Prix on Saturday to lead a dominant McLaren ready to take the lead on Ferrari in the tight Formula One championship race.
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Hamilton timed 1 minute, 15.666 seconds on his final lap to clip championship rival Felipe Massa of Ferrari out of the starting place at the front of the grid for Sunday's 67-lap race.
Coming off a masterful victory at the British GP, Hamilton's pole will boost McLaren's confidence and send a warning out to his Ferrari counterparts that he is poised to take control of the title race.
"Taking points off of the other driver is key for all of us. The more points I can take off of everyone the better," Hamilton said after collecting his eighth career pole and third this season.
McLaren's improvement was backed by teammate Heikki Kovalainen, who will start from the second row after recovering from an early driving error on his penultimate lap to post the third fastest time on his final chance.
"Just a little mistake in the last lap cost me a little time, but these things happen," Kovalainen said, adding that he had damaged the bottom of the car after running wide at the hairpin turn in a scene remnant of a rally competition with dirt flying behind the Finnish driver. "I just lost the rear end and went wide. Maybe I was just trying to go too deep into the corner."
With three drivers even on 48 points, Hamilton holds the advantage over Ferrari pair Massa and Kimi Raikkonen in the three-way tie for F1's overall standings. Hamilton said he hadn't changed a thing in his routine following a frustrating French GP last month that left him 10 points back off the lead.
"I just stayed on the same route, I kept my head down and kept working hard," he said. "I feel relaxed and I'm enjoying it. I guess the more relaxed you are, the better you do."
Massa was pleased to be back on the front row after a Silverstone performance marked by five spins and a 13th-place finish - last of the drivers who managed to complete the rain-hit race.
"Tough, for sure very tight," the Brazilian said of the difference between main rivals McLaren and Ferrari. "The race tomorrow will be a big competition between all four cars and for sure that's very exciting, but we have to do everything right."
Defending world champion Raikkonen will start from sixth ahead of Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber. Kubica, who trails the leaders by two points, has struggled at Hockenheim all weekend.
"All weekend long, we have been struggling a bit to find a good setup for the car," Raikkonen said. "Clearly sixth place is not satisfying and tomorrow we won't be in for an easy time, but it's definitely not the end of the world."
Jarno Trulli of Toyota fills the second row from fourth, ahead of two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in his Renault.
