Melbourne, Australia (My Sportsbook) - Lewis Hamilton barely beat Robert Kubica on his final lap to capture the pole for Sunday's Formula One season opening Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne. The No.22 McLaren Mercedes driver circled the 3.295-mile, 16-turn road course in one minute, 26.714 seconds.

"It was very, very close," said Hamilton of his pole competition with Kubica and Heikki Kovalainen. "The feeling in the car is great...the team did a fantastic job to prepare the car this weekend."

The pole victory was the sixth of Hamilton's F1 career, although it is the seventh time he will lead a field to the green flag. Last year in Hungary, Alonso won the top spot but was sent back five positions after impeding Hamilton during qualifying.

Starting on the front row with Hamilton will be BMW's Kubica, who posted a second-best time of 1:26.869.

"Yesterday we faced some problems...it is difficult to find the right setup," said Kubica after claiming his first front-row start. "The team has worked very hard and thanks to them I am here."

Kovalainen (1:27.079) and Felipe Massa (1:27.178) will make up row two.

In the first session (Q1), won by McLaren's Kovalainen, six cars were knocked out. Sitting out after the first round was Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India cars, Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguri Hondas along with Nelson Piquet Jr. in inaugural F1 start and Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, the four-time Champ Car Series champion.

After putting up a speed good enough to qualify for Q2, defending World Champion Kimi Raikkonen had to be pushed back to his pit (fuel pressure regulator problem) and officials determined that because of a rules violation he would not be allowed to take part in the second session. He will start 16th.

Session two (Q2) was won by the "other" McLaren - super second-year driver Hamilton. Among those knocked out were: two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, hometown favorite Mark Webber and Rubens Barrichello.

It's a new season, with new rules, but the same teams are expected to fight for the 2008 Formula One drivers and manufacturers championships.

All teams will use one "brain" called a Standardized Electronic Control Unit. Its introduction is to prevent teams from using many banned driver aids such as traction control, engine braking and launch control.

Without these aids drivers will again be the most important piece of equipment. No longer will a driver simply push a "launch-control" button to start the race. Now, instead of who has the best launch software, the start will be won by driver reaction time and ability to get off the line without spinning the wheels.

Without traction control, it will again be the driver in charge as he slids through the corner. The same with engine braking versus driver braking.

"It is in the low-speed corners that you notice the difference, because that is where the traction control would normally kick in," said two-time World Champion Alonso. "That means you have to change your driving style quite dramatically. Last year we used to go straight to full throttle, but now we need to be gentler and feather the throttle."

Gearboxes have been mandated to last four races or be subject to a five- position starting grid penalty. This goes along with last year's rule that engines must be used in consecutive events or suffer a 10-position penalty.

The first of three qualifying sessions was extended by five minutes, while the final session was reduced by five minutes and drivers will start the race with the fuel amount after the third session is over.

All these rules have been designed to both bring the racing back to the driver and lower costs.

This season should be another titanic struggle between Ferrari and McLaren. BMW seems to be closer, but just a step below the two rivals and the biggest unknown for 2008 is what the return of two-time World Champion Alonso will do for the Renault team.

We should begin to find an answer to all these questions when the race drops the green flag on Sunday at 12 a.m. (et).