Hamilton storms to Shanghai pole

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton gave his world title hopes a big lift by taking pole for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

The Briton finished in front of title rivals Felipe Massa, who will start third, and Robert Kubica, whose bid was dented by a poor qualifying session.

Hamilton, 23, leads the standings by five points with just two races to go.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen, Massa's Ferrari team-mate, was second, with Renault's Fernando Alonso, who has won the last two races, claiming fourth.

BMW Sauber's Kubica, who lies 12 points behind Hamilton, put in his worst qualifying performance of the season and is in 12th spot.

The Pole complained about the car's balance throughout the session in Shanghai and had to drive to his limit to eke out any pace at all after just squeezing into the second period of qualifying.

"I expect a tough race now because we are not allowed to change the set-up," Kubica said.

Kovalainen, who had been expected to support his team-mate Hamilton with a strong performance in qualifying, claimed fifth place.

Asked after the race if he could help Hamilton's race strategy now, he shrugged and answered "not much".

Red Bull's Mark Webber qualified in sixth place but will start from 16th place on the grid after incurring a 10-place penalty for a last-minute engine change.

BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, Sebastian Vettel for Toro Rosso, Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Sebastien Bourdais in the second Toro Rosso complete the top-10 line-up.

Hamilton dominated qualifying, setting the benchmark for the rest of the field in each of the three sessions.