Hamilton races to pole position

In-form Lewis Hamilton grabbed the ninth pole position of his Formula One career ahead of Sunday's German Grand Prix.

Flying high from his British Grand Prix triumph 13 days ago, the 23-year-old McLaren star snatched top spot on the grid by just under 0.2 seconds from Ferrari's Felipe Massa at Hockenheim.

Hamilton has so far been outstanding around this circuit, and he is now poised to grab the outright lead in the world championship if he can follow up with victory.

The threat of rain had hung heavy in the air before the start, but despite one sharp shower 15 minutes ahead of the pit lane opening, it failed to arrive and so shake up the grid.

It means Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen starts from third, followed by a stunning fourth for Jarno Trulli in his Toyota.

Renault's Fernando Alonso heads the third row in fifth, with Kimi Raikkonen a lowly sixth in his Ferrari as he has so far failed to hook up his car around this track.

Behind Raikkonen come BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, with the Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and David Coulthard sandwiching the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel in eighth and 10th.

After the 15-minute Q2, Toyota's Timo Glock missed out on a place in the top 10 by just 0.027secs and will start 11th.

Another German in BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld disappointed his army of fans by failing to make it into Q3 for the third time this year.

Nico Rosberg starts 13th in his Williams, followed by Jenson Button in his Honda, an improvement of late as he had failed to make Q2 in his previous three grands prix.