Felipe Massa of Ferrari took pole position here Saturday for Sunday's European Grand Prix ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton following a hotly-contested qualifying session. Brazilian Massa timed 1 min 38.989sec to see off Hamilton by 0.2sec and the BMW Sauber of Pole Robert Kubica after turning in a scintillating final lap.
Defending champion and Massa team-mate Kimi Raikkonen will start the race at the new Valencia circuit fourth on the grid ahead of Heikki Kovalainen's Mclaren and German surprise package Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso.
The Spanish fans were left disappointed at the showing of Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso, who could only manage 12th for his worst grid placing this season. The 27-year-old Massa secured his fifth pole of the season and the 13th of his career by narrowly outpacing championship-leading Briton Hamilton.
Hamilton had clocked 1:39.199 seconds and then Massa pulled out all the stops to push him into second place.
In the final session, the Ferraris were swiftly setting the pace after an early lap by Hamilton, but with the teams running varied heavier fuel loads in preparation for the race it was difficult to make any accurate conclusions. The arrival of retired seven-times champion Michael Schumacher to sit on the Ferrari pit wall appeared to signal greater concentration and more pace for the team.
At the start of the session, the air temperature was a relatively mild 27 degrees Celsius and the track temperature was 32 degrees.
Under an overcast sky, with the sun attempting to peep through the cloud cover, Kubica set the early pace in his BMW Sauber, again clocking a time inside 1:39 - the barrier he was the first man to break during the morning's final free practice session. The temporary grandstands erected around the harbour that hosted the America's Cup were virtually full with ticket-holding motor racing fans while thousands of other interested spectators enjoyed a free view of the action from their balconies and roofs.
A combination of heavy overnight rain and the cooler weather - after several days of hot sunshine and temperatures in the mid-thirties - encouraged faster times as the drivers learned their way around the new 5.42-kms street circuit.
The first mini-session within the qualifying hour saw Hamilton cut half a second off Kubica's early time to go top before the final rush. In the closing minutes, a highly-motivated Alonso jumped to second behind Massa, and then 21-year-old Vettel and Italian veteran Jarno Trulli outpaced them both.
It meant that Toyota's Trulli ended up with his 1:37.948 as the fastest time of the weekend by a distance. A light shower before the second part-session caused a stir as several teams hurried to get out before further rain with both Ferraris leading the way.
Alonso, in a crowd-pleasing mood, was also out quickly, but it was Vettel who again impressed as he cut the top time down to 1:37.842. But, unfortunately for his army of fans, Alonso was unable to make the cut as he wound up 12th.
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