Hamilton heads all-McLaren front row

Lewis Hamilton has beaten team-mate Heikki Kovalainen to ensure a McLaren-Mercedes lock-out on the front row of the grid ahead of Sunday's European Grand Prix in Valencia. Rubens Barrichello will start third ahead of Sebastian Vettel with championship leader Jenson Button completing the top five.

With track temperatures rising to a weekend's highest of 46°C (115°F) on the streets of the Mediterranean city, air temperatures of 30°C (86°F) ensured a perfect day for both those in the grandstands and those listening to the Formula One cars from the beach, which runs adjacent to the track at Turn 8.

Adrian Sutil had recorded the best lap of the meeting so far by topping the timesheets in final practice although all cars had lost nearly half an hour when Sebastian Vettel's engine expired. The McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen had arguably been the quickest and most consistent performer although both McLaren and Brawn drivers looked to be fighting for Saturday's pole.

A predictable first casualty in Q1 was the Ferrari of Luca Badoer, who is standing in for the injured Felipe Massa for the first time this weekend; the red car, which took pole and fastest lap as well as winning last year's race, will start 20th and last with local hero Jaime Alguersuari alongside on only his second race weekend for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Also out at the first hurdle were the Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella, which starts 16th after being 6th in final practice, Kazuki Nakajima's Williams in 17th following a technical problem and the Toyota of Jarno Trulli in a lowly 18th place.

The second phase of the hour was particularly crucial for Red Bull Racing, as Mark Webber has finished outside of the top ten in Q1. The Australian succeeded in making Q3 however, as did team-mate Vettel, leaving Nick Heidfeld's BMW to start 11th after just missing the cut.

Adrian Sutil's Force India will start a strong 12th on a weekend where the team is debuting a new aerodynamics package and the leading Toyota of Germany's Timo Glock is heading row seven; that particular part of the grid is also occupied by Romain Grosjean, as the French Renault driver qualifies in an impressive 14th position for his first ever Grand Prix. Sébastien Buemi is the leading Toro Rosso in 15th spot.

The contenders heading into the 10-minute Q3 were Brawn, Red Bull, McLaren the Williams of Nico Rosberg, Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen, BMW of Kubica and Renault of crowd favourite Fernando Alonso. Seven cars completed flying laps initially although Barrichello and both Red Bull pilots elected to complete only one flyer before their final, race-fuelled runs.

Kubica was arguably always likely to be the slowest of those in the final phase of the session and will start Sunday's race from 10th; the Pole is joined on the fifth row of the starting grid by championship contender Mark Webber, who has much work to do on what is likely to be an afternoon of damage limitation on Sunday - when asked after the session if he could either win the race or beat Brawn, a simple response of "No" was the answer.

Nico Rosberg will start ahead of Alonso in seventh and eighth places with Kimi Räikkönen sixth, just behind championship leader Button who will be watching his rear view mirrors for the KERS-shod Ferrari at the start of the race. Barrichello and Vettel were late session challengers and are the leading Brawn and Red Bull contenders on Row 2 although McLaren, now seemingly the fastest car in the field, dominated the session to fill both front row places.

Pole looked to belong to Heikki Kovalainen, who was on a scorching lap on a scorching day until running wide at the final corner and losing out to his World Champion team-mate as a result. Hamilton's pole position is his first since the Chinese Grand Prix last October and the result means F1 sees an all-Silver Arrow Row 1 for the first time since the Hungarian Grand Prix of 2008.

Source: GP Update