ISTANBUL, May 10: Ferrari’s Felipe Massa set his sights on a Turkish Grand Prix hat-trick after taking pole position for the third year in a row on Saturday.

The Brazilian, winner in 2006 and 2007 at the anti-clockwise Istanbul Park circuit, will have Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren alongside him on the front row on Sunday with the Finn coming back strongly from a heavy crash in Spain.

Every Turkish Grand Prix so far has been won from pole position.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was third quickest with Ferrari’s world champion Kimi Raikkonen joining the 23-year-old Briton on the second row.

Raikkonen, winner in Turkey with McLaren in 2005, leads Hamilton by nine points in the championship after four races.

Kovalainen, who was knocked unconscious and spent a night in hospital after crashing in the previous race in Barcelona, secured the first front-row start of his career.

Poland’s Robert Kubica, who qualified on pole position for BMW-Sauber in Bahrain and is third in the championship and 10 points behind Raikkonen, was fifth fastest with Australian Mark Webber sixth for Red Bull.

Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso was seventh in a Renault and Italian Jarno Trulli eighth for Toyota.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello will start his record 257th grand prix in 12th place for Honda.

Qualifying times:

1. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari one minute 27.617 seconds; 2. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 1:27.808; 3. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:27.923; 4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:27.936; 5. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:28.390; 6. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull–Renault 1:28.417; 7. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:28.422; 8. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:28.836; 9. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:28.882; 10. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull–Renault 1:29.959; 11. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams–Toyota 1:27.012; 12. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1:27.219; 13. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1:27.298; 14. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso–Ferrari 1:27.412; 15. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 1:27.806; 16. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams–Toyota 1:27.547; 17. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 1:27.568; 18. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso–Ferrari 1:27.621; 19. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India–Ferrari 1:27.807; 20. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India–Ferrari 1:28.325.

Starting grid: 1. Massa; 2. Kovalainen; 3. Hamilton; 4. Raikkonen; 5. Kubica; 6. Webber; 7. Alonso; 8. Trulli; 9. Heidfeld; 10. Coulthard; 11. Rosberg; 12. Barrichello; 13. Button; 14. Vettel; 15. Glock; 16. Nakajima; 17. Piquet; 18. Bourdais; 19. Sutil; 20. Fisichella.—Reuters