Massa beats Hamilton to Singapore pole
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Ferrari's Felipe Massa has clinched pole position for the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix, qualifying quickest under floodlights for Formula One's first night-time race.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, a point ahead of Brazilian Massa in the Formula One standings with four races remaining, steered his McLaren to second on the grid with world champion Kimi Raikkonen to start third for Ferrari.
It was the fifth pole position of the season for Massa, who also qualified quickest at the Monaco and Valencia street circuits.
"First of all, the car was just perfect, nice to drive, and then I managed to drive a perfect lap," said a delighted Massa, whose home Interlagos circuit also runs anti-clockwise like Singapore.
"That was a great achievement. The feeling is fantastic when you can take the best of the car."
Massa's time of one minute, 44.801 seconds was a massive 0.664 seconds quicker than Hamilton.
BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica qualified in fourth place while McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was fifth.
Double world champion Fernando Alonso, who had topped the final two practice sessions and looked set to challenge for pole, suffered a huge disappointment when his engine died and he cruised to a halt midway through the second qualifying session.
The Spaniard held his head in his hands in frustration as his chance of a decent grid position evaporated and he will start from 15th position.
Australia's Mark Webber qualified 13th fastest and will start on the seventh row alongside Red Bull team-mate David Coulthard.
-Reuters
