Valencia, Spain (My Sportsbook) - Defending Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton captured his first pole position of the season, while his teammate Heikki Kovalainen qualified second to give McLaren a front row sweep for Sunday's European Grand Prix.

Hamilton, who won the previous race in Hungary last month, overcame hot and humid conditions to post a quick lap on the Valencia Street Circuit in one minute, 39.498 seconds. The Briton was second in the first two qualifying sessions, but finished .034 seconds ahead of Kovalainen in the final segment to record his 14th career F1 pole.

"It was a fantastic achievement for the team in the last race and then to come here not knowing whether we would have the same pace with other people," Hamilton said. "Clearly we have a very good pace this weekend. Heikki and myself did a fantastic job through qualifying. It was very close between us. It's good to see us both there."

Hamilton's last pole came in October 2008 at China.

Kovalainen claimed he made a mistake on the final corner of his last lap, which cost the Finn a chance to nab the pole.

"I clearly went over the limit," Kovalainen said. "I could have done a bit better, but in qualifying you have to go for it, and it was incredibly close. Had I not pushed to the absolute limit, I could have dropped three or four places, so I went for it."

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was third fastest in his Brawn GP, while German Sebastian Vettel for Red Bull and Brawn's Jenson Button of Britain rounded out the top-five.

"Between myself and Jenson, we've had a fantastic job on Friday to do back to back setups and things, and I think we learned something," Barrichello said.

Button currently holds 18.5 point lead in the F1 world championship standings. His closest title contender, Red Bull's Mark Webber of Australia, will start ninth.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso qualified eighth in front of his home crowd, while his new Renault teammate Romain Grosjean occupied the 14th starting position.

Luca Badoer, who is filling in for the injured Felipe Massa at Ferrari, struggled in qualifying, as he finished a distant last.

"I made a mistake on the last corner, which cost me a lot of time, but it doesn't matter," Badoer said. "This is all a test for me, and it's the only way that I can learn."