MONTREAL, June 8: Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton put his McLaren on pole position for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix after pipping BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica with the last lap of qualifying on Saturday.

Polish driver Kubica looked to have grabbed a stunning pole with a late lap of one minute 18.498 seconds at the same Circuit Gilles Villeneuve where he suffered the worst crash of his career last year.

But Hamilton, who took his first grand prix win from pole position as a 22-year-old rookie in Montreal last June, produced a blistering one minute 17.886 lap with his final effort.

On a track which was already breaking up alarmingly in qualifying, Ferrari’s world champion Kimi Raikkonen will start third on the grid with Renault’s Spaniard Fernando Alonso alongside.

Germany’s Nico Rosberg qualified fifth for Williams and Brazilian Felipe Massa sixth in his Ferrari.

Hamilton was quickest in all three phases of qualifying, picking up just his second pole this season.

Hamilton, the Monaco winner who leads Raikkonen by three points after six races, said he was surprised that he was able to find so much extra speed on his final lap.

The pole was the Briton’s eighth from 24 starts.

Despite another impressive performance, and two second place finishes this season already, Kubica was not optimistic of his chances of taking BMW Sauber’s first win.

“It is one of my favourite tracks but I think we don’t have the pace to win here.”

Raikkonen was frustrated that the track conditions had hampered his efforts in qualifying but said the time difference between him and Hamilton – over a second in the third session – wasn’t a real reflection of the speed of the two cars.

“I don’t see the difference as one second in normal conditions,” said the Finn.

Qualifying results:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:17.886; 2. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:18.498; 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:18.735; 4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:18.746; 5. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams 1:18.844; 6. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:19.048; 7. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 1:19.089; 8. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:19.633; 9. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1:20.848; 10. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 1:17.523; 11. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 1:18.031; 12. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams 1:18.062; 13. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 1:18.238; 14. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:18.327; 15. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 1:18.393; 16. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso 1:18.916; 17. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 1:19.108; 18. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India 1:19.165; 19. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1:23.565; 20. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso no time.

Starting grid:

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