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Melbourne, Mar 15: Lewis Hamilton put his McLaren on pole position for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Saturday after world champion Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari broke down.
The 23-year-old beat Poland's Robert Kubica, who will be making his first appearance on the front row for BMW Sauber on Sunday, to line up a perfect start to his second season in Formula One.
While Hamilton celebrated his seventh pole position from just 18 starts, a phenomenal tally that already puts him ahead of several champions, his main rival Raikkonen endured an agonising afternoon.
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The Finn, winner in Melbourne from pole position on his Ferrari debut last year, was eliminated after the first phase of qualifying when his car coasted to a halt with a fuel pressure problem.
Raikkonen, who beat Hamilton by a single point in last year's title battle, will start 16th in a race that could prove trickier than usual due to the absence of traction control and other so-called driver aids.
Compatriot Heikki Kovalainen qualified third on his McLaren debut and swept champions Ferrari out of the top three places. Brazilian Felipe Massa was fourth for the Italian team.
"To start the season, it couldn't be a better position for both of us," said Hamilton, with his team turning over a new leaf after the spying controversy that cost them $100 million and the 2007 constructors' title.
"It's going to be a very tough race tomorrow and we just have to do the best we can in managing our tyres and hope for the best."
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Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso, now back with Renault after a turbulent year alongside Hamilton at McLaren, failed to reach the final 10-car shootout for pole and will line up 12th on the grid.
Germany's Nick Heidfeld showed BMW Sauber's strength with fifth place alongside Italian Jarno Trulli in the Toyota on the third row.
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Behind them, Germany's Nico Rosberg qualified seventh for Williams with David Coulthard eighth for Red Bull.
Two Germans starting their first full season filled the fifth row, with Toyota's Timo Glock ninth and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel 10th.
Red Bull's Mark Webber, the only Australian in Sunday's race, crashed out in the second session in a big disappointment for local fans.
"It was just a failure on the front right of the car, so it pitched me off," he said.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, the former Ferrari race winner who failed to score a point last year in a nightmare season for Honda, raised his team's morale with 11th place on the grid.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella narrowly failed to take Force India through to the second phase of qualifying with a fighting 17th place.
At the back, struggling Super Aguri claimed a small victory when Japan's Takuma Sato outqualified Renault's Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet for 20th place.