MELBOURNE (AFP) — Lewis Hamilton got the first jump on Kimi Raikkonen to capitalise on a Ferrari mechanical glitch and seize pole position for Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
The young British McLaren star swooped to grab the coveted inside of the front-row grid when he held off BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica in Saturday's qualifying to claim his seventh career pole.
While McLaren were rejoicing having Hamilton and teammate Heikki Kovalainen in the top three qualifying spots, world constructor champions Ferrari were plotting their best way of taking something out of the first race.
Raikkonen's Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa will start off the second row and is Ferrari's best hope for points, while the Finn has to find a way of snaking his way through the traffic on a notoriously difficult overtaking circuit.
"I think the start will be interesting tomorrow due to the change of regulations (loss of traction control)," Hamilton said.
"Last year it was relatively easy whereas now it's dependent on the driver, so I want to get that right.
"Fortunately, I am starting from the clean side of the track for once and hopefully that will help."
Raikkonen's car slowed to a crawl with an electronic fuel pump problem towards the end of the first stage of qualifying, bringing it to a stop at the top of the pit lane.
His car needed to be pushed to the team garage by mechanics and he was not allowed to continue in qualifying to improve on his 16th place, conceding a massive first race advantage to Hamilton.
"A few corners from the end of my in-lap, I had a problem with the electronic fuel pump which forced me to stop near the pit lane and so it was impossible for me to get back to the garage to try and fix the problem," Raikkonen said.
"These things happen, but it's definitely not the best way to start the season. Now we must try to do our best to pick up some points tomorrow."
Raikkonen reeled in Hamilton in last season's final race in Brazil to claim the drivers' championship by a point.
Kubica estimated he dropped a crucial split second in sliding off in his final flying lap to just miss out on the taking pole.
"I took a lot of risks and I went wide on corner 12 and ran on to the artificial grass," Kubica said. "This cost me between two and three-tenths of a second and maybe pole position."
Renault's dual world champion Fernando Alonso experienced differential problems which forced him out of the final stages of qualifying.
Alonso, who returned to Renault after an unhappy season at McLaren, finished 12th, but he is hopeful of bouncing back in the race.
"A failure of the differential upset the balance of the car and made it extremely difficult to drive," the Spaniard said.
"I am sure we can bounce back in the race and we will work hard tonight to make sure that is the case."
It was another frustrating day for Australian Mark Webber, preparing to drive in his seventh home GP.
He beached the Red Bull-Renault in the gravel trap on the outside of Turn 6 and was forced out in the second stage of qualifying.
Webber is pessimistic of his chances of giving his home fans something to cheer about in Sunday's race.
"There was a failure at the front right of the car, possibly a brake issue, which isn't good," Webber said.
"It's nearly impossible to get into the points now under normal circumstances, because it's very difficult to overtake on this circuit, but I'll do my best."
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