Lewis Hamilton ... on the pole in Belgium. - File

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS,

Belgium (AP):

MCLAREN'S Championship leader Lewis Hamilton clinched pole position for today's Belgian Grand Prix ahead of his main challenger, Felipe Massa, on a track which was supposed to favour the Ferrari car.

Hamilton's McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen took third place on the grid, with the second Ferrari driver, world champion Kimmi Raikkonen, completing the top four.

"The team made no mistakes and I made no mistakes," said Hamilton after clinching his fifth pole of the season. "I'm more and more comfortable in the car."

BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was fifth, edging former world champion Fernando Alonso of Renault.

Hamilton set a time of one minute, 47.338 seconds yesterday in the decisive qualifying session at the 7.004 kilometre (4.352-mile) Spa-Francorchamps circuit, beating Massa by 0.340 seconds.

Sizeable margin

It was a sizeable margin on a circuit where the Ferrari car has traditionally done well. Massa, who is trying to close the 70-64 gap with Hamilton in the world standings could not figure what went wrong.

"Sometimes, you do a great lap and you still miss something," he said. "I need to understand why."

Hamilton had an answer immediately: great driving.

"Clean, smooth, flowing," he said about his own achievement. "It really feels incredible."

Raikkonen, trailing Hamilton by 13 points, continued to disappoint on a circuit he safely can call his own since he won the past three races here.

He spun off in practice on Friday, and has been chasing his teammate Massa all weekend.

If he is to challenge for the title over the last six of 18 races, he will have to start piling on the points here, considering he has not won a race since April.

Weather issues

Still, the long stretches cutting through the pines and hills of the Ardennes in southern Belgium offers plenty of passing oppor-tunities, making the starting grid position less important than in many other races.

On top of that, the weather can be an awful spoilsport in Belgium.

Despite leaden skies hanging low over the track, the whole qualifying session was run in dry conditions.

Rain could still come sweeping in today at extremely short notice, which has had a direct impact on the results in the past.