August 26, 2007	Sunday	Sha’aban 12, 1428

ISTANBUL, Aug 25: Ferrari’s Felipe Massa squeezed out Lewis Hamilton in the final seconds to secure pole position at the Turkish Formula One Grand Prix for the second year in a row on Saturday.

McLaren’s 22-year-old championship leader joined the Brazilian on the front row, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen lining up third and McLaren’s double world champion Fernando Alonso fourth.

British rookie Hamilton leads his Spanish team mate in the tight championship battle by seven points with six races remaining.

Raikkonen is third, a considerable 20 points off the lead, with Massa one point further adrift.

Massa won last year’s race in Turkey, in what was also his first grand prix victory, after securing the first pole position of his Formula One career.

He secured the top slot again with a last lap of one minute 27.329 seconds. Hamilton, in fourth place before his final flying lap, had moments earlier crossed the line in 1:27.373 while Raikkonen paid the price for an error.

Massa failed to score in the previous round in Budapest at the beginning of August after Ferrari failed to refuel his car in the second phase of qualifying, leaving him starting 14th at a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult.

If Massa could breathe a sigh of relief, so too could championship leaders McLaren after emerging from the session with both drivers in the top four and no repeat of the controversy that beset them in Budapest.

Alonso was demoted five places from pole in that race for impeding his team mate in the pits while Mercedes-powered McLaren were barred from scoring constructors’ points in a contest won by Hamilton.

McLaren brought their drivers together to clear the air on Thursday, their first face-to-face meeting since they left Hungary no longer on speaking terms, and gave them separate pit crews for qualifying.

Poland’s Robert Kubica will start in fifth place with his German team mate Nick Heidfeld alongside as BMW Sauber were again the best of the rest.

Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen was seventh and Germany’s Nico Rosberg completed the fourth row for Williams.

Germany’s Ralf Schumacher, still without a firm contract for next year, had a disappointing afternoon for Toyota and qualified 18th.

Qualifying results: 1. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1 min 27.329 secs; 2. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:27.373; 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:27.546; 4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 1:27.574; 5. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:27.722; 6. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:28.037; 7. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault 1:28.491; 8. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams–Toyota 1:28.501; 9. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:28.740; 10. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 1:29.322; 11. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri–Honda 1:28.002; 12. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull–Renault 1:28.013; 13. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull–Renault 1:28.100; 14. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1:28.188; 15. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1:28.220; 16. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams–Toyota 1:28.390; 17. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso–Ferrari 1:28.798; 18. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 1:28.809; 19. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri–Honda 1:28.953; 20. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso–Ferrari 1:29.408; 21. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Spyker– Ferrari 1:29.861; 22. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) Spyker–Ferrari 1:31.479.—Reuters