Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (My Sportsbook) - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton edged Ferrari's Felipe Massa in the closing seconds of qualifying to win the pole for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. Hamilton, the current Formula One points leader, rounded the 4.352-mile, 21-turn Spa-Francorchamps circuit in one minute, 47.338 seconds.
The pole victory was Hamilton's fifth of the season and the 11th of his F1 career.
"I was so happy with all three laps that I did throughout (the final round of) qualifying," Hamilton said. "It's always satisfying when you can go out, do one lap, come back in and watch everyone else go around, trying to get their laps done. Today, the team made no mistakes, and I made no mistakes."
Massa will start on the outside pole after posting a time of 1:47.678.
"It was almost a perfect lap, but it was not enough," Massa said.
It's the third time in the last four races that Hamilton and Massa have shared the front row.
Heikki Kovalainen (1:47.815) and defending F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen (1:47.992) will make up the second row.
Nick Heidfeld qualified fifth, with Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Robert Kubica, Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel rounding out the top-10.
Bourdais was surprisingly quickest in the first qualifying session, while Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil, Kazuki Nakajima and Giancarlo Fisichella were all eliminated.
Jarno Trulli, Nelson Piquet, Timo Glock, David Coulthard and Nico Rosberg were knocked out in the second session with Kovalainen posting the fastest speed.
After a disappointing performance in the European Grand Prix in the Streets of Valencia in Spain, Raikkonen is glad to see Belgium as the next stop on the schedule. He blew an engine and finished 18th at Valencia, putting him 18 points behind Hamilton in the championship battle. Raikkonen has an opportunity to rebound as he has won the last three races at Spa. He has scored two victories so far this season, but his last came in April at Barcelona, Spain.
Massa, meanwhile, revived his title hopes with a victory at Valencia. He moved to within six points of Hamilton after capturing his fourth win of the season. Massa finished second at Belgium last year.
The race begins Sunday at 8 a.m. (et).
