Massa claims pole position in Turkey

Felipe Massa caused a surprise today by clinching pole for tomorrow's Turkish Grand Prix.

It is the fifth time this season - and eighth time in his career - the Ferrari star will start from top spot on the grid.

Current championship leader Lewis Hamilton managed to split the Ferraris in his McLaren as he joins Massa on the front row, with Kimi Raikkonen third, ahead of Fernando Alonso.

Massa won his first race here from pole last year, but until the closing 15-minute session had barely been in the running as Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton all appeared quicker.

At least on this occasion there was no controversy to mar qualifying as was the case at the last grand prix in Hungary.

Hamilton's decision to disobey team orders and not allow Alonso by at the start of Q1 led to the reigning world champion deliberately blocking the 22-year-old Briton and incurring a grid penalty.

The duo then fell out with one another, but cleared the air in a face-to-face meeting on Thursday, with both claiming the matter is now in the past and they have buried the hatchet.

Unlike at the Hungaroring when Alonso set off immediately behind Hamilton, the two drivers were comfortably spaced.

Hamilton was second out on the track for the final 15-minute run, with Alonso last of the drivers competing in the top-10 shoot-out.

But despite that advantage for Alonso, he failed to make it pay and potentially faces a tough battle to close the seven-point gap on Hamilton.

Behind Alonso come Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld for BMW Sauber, with Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella seventh and 10th for Renault, sandwiching the Williams of Nico Rosberg and Toyota of Jarno Trulli.

Anthony Davidson narrowly missed out on a top-10 grid spot for what would have been the first time this year.

The Super Aguri driver will start from 11th, equalling his best position since the season-opening race in Australia, finishing just 0.122secs off reaching Q3.

Behind the Briton come Mark Webber and David Coulthard for Red Bull Racing, followed by the Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button, with the Williams of Alex Wurz in 16th.

After his recent upturn in fortunes, Ralf Schumacher did little to improve his chances of landing a new contract with Toyota for next season.

Schumacher had reached Q3 at the last three races, prompting kind words from team principal John Howett yesterday that the German is "doing a good job."

But on this occasion Schumacher failed to even make it beyond Q1 and will start from 18th, with the usual suspects around him.

Tonio Liuzzi starts 17th for Toro Rosso, while behind Schumacher will be Takuma Sato (Super Aguri), Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) and the Spykers of Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto.