Hamilton leads McLaren 1-2 start in Euro GP

VALENCIA, Spain – Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the European Grand Prix on Saturday to lead a McLaren 1-2 in qualifying.

Hamilton had a best lap of 1 minute, 39.498 seconds around the Valencia street circuit to give the defending Formula One champion his first pole of the season.

Teammate Heikki Kovalainen slipped up at the last corner on his final flying lap and will start Sunday’s race from second spot.

“Clearly, we have very, very good pace this weekend,” said Hamilton, who is coming off his first win of the season at the Hungarian GP. “We thought we would be competitive, but I don’t think we thought we’d be on the front row.”

Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello will start third ahead of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and overall leader Jenson Button.

Luca Badoer, who is replacing the injured Felipe Massa for Ferrari, qualified last on the 20-car grid on his return to F1 after a 10-year absence.