Hamilton on pole for Chinese Grand Prix
By Nick MULVENNEY
MOTOR RACING: SHANGHAI, Oct 18 - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton gave his
Formula One title hopes a huge boost when he took pole position for the
Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday with his main rival Felipe Massa of
Ferrari qualifying third.
The 23-year-old Briton, who could become Formula One's youngest world
champion if he wins Sunday's penultimate race of the season and Massa
finishes fifth or worse, will line up alongside world champion Kimi
Raikkonen on the front row.
BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica, the third driver still in the title race
albeit 12 points behind Hamilton, scraped into the second qualifying
session but failed to reach the final shootout and will start 11th on
the grid.
The Pole, who has been complaining about a lack of balance in his car
all weekend, had a good morning practice with the third best time behind
team mate Nick Heidfeld and Hamilton but his troubles returned when it
mattered.
The first two rows of the grid will be exactly the same as last
season in Shanghai with Renault's Fernando Alonso qualifying fourth.
Last year, Hamilton just needed to beat his championship rivals to
win the title but failed to finish the race after skidding off at the
pitlane entry.
The front row in Shanghai will also be a repeat of last weekend's
Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji, where Hamilton failed to score any points
after a wild start that earned him a drive-through penalty.
Saturday's pole position was Hamilton's seventh of the season and
13th in 34 races.
Red Bull's Mark Webber pulled off the track with his car on fire
during the morning's final practice and suffered a 10-place penalty for
replacing the engine. That relegated the Australian from sixth to 16th.
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