Hamilton takes pole in Melbourne

Lewis Hamilton has got his bid for the Formula One world championship off to the perfect start by taking pole position for the Australian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver's time of one minute 26.714 seconds was good enough to edge out Robert Kubica's BMW Sauber by 0.155secs, with team-mate Heikki Kovalainen third.

But defending champion Kimi Raikkonen will start way down the field after his Ferrari came to a halt in the pitlane during Qualifying One, while team-mate Felipe Massa could only manage fourth.

Yet despite giving himself the ideal start for Sundays race, Hamilton admitted there is still room for improvement.

He said: "I could do better. Being on pole is a great feeling but you can always do better. Finding gaps is tricky, but I'm happy with the result."

Disaster struck for Raikkonen as, after setting a time in Qualifying One, his Ferrari crawled back to the pits before stopping and the Finn was pushed back to the garage.

That brought his participation to a premature end and meant he would start the race from 16th on the grid.

Nick Heidfeld starts fifth in the second BMW, while Jarno Trulli piloted his Toyota to an impressive sixth place.

Nico Rosberg claimed seventh for Williams and David Coulthard grabbed eighth for Red Bull.

Timo Glock was ninth in the other Toyota, while Sebastian Vettel was 10th for Toro Rosso.

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