Lewis Hamilton ensured he has the best chance possible of extending his World Championship lead after securing pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix in qualifying.

The McLaren driver shot to the top of the timesheet late on with a time of one minute 18.404 seconds on the Fuji Speedway circuit.

But there was disaster for Felipe Massa as the Ferrari driver will start fifth on the grid.

Kimi Raikkonen finished second with a time of 1:18.644 while Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen took third and Singapore Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso fourth for the Enstone-based ING Renault F1 team.

Alonso's team-mate Nelson Piquet starts 12th with Grove's AT&T Williams team drivers Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg in 14th and 15th place.

Rubens Barrichello starts 17th for the Brackley-based Honda team, just ahead of his team-mate Jenson Button in 18th.

The race starts at 5.30am BST tomorrow.