Zoom A front row start for Lewis Hamilton in Valencia

Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday's European Grand Prix, the McLaren Mercedes partnership's 200th GP since their first Formula 1 win in 1997, from the front row of the grid behind title rival Felipe Massa.

In Saturday's exciting qualifying, Hamilton posted a fastest lap of 1:39.199 which put him second overall while team-mate Heikki Kovalainen qualified fifth with a time of 1:39.937s.

The session on the new Valencia street circuit was extremely closely-fought, particularly during Q1 and Q2. In the first part, all 20 drivers were covered by two seconds, in the second, the remaining 15 drivers were within nine tenths of one another.

Lewis Hamilton
"We knew we had a great car and we didn't have any problems during qualifying. I felt really comfortable, and I decided to qualify with the option tyre. My first lap wasn’t perfect, and I lost almost one second compared with my second lap, but on my final lap everything went well. Second place on the grid is a good basis for tomorrow's race. However, Felipe Massa was significantly faster in the first sector, and I hope we’ll be able to improve there tomorrow. Our team did a great job, and I’m confident we’ll be strong."

Heikki Kovalainen
"The balance of my car was good and we improved continuously throughout the sessions. However I’m a little disappointed with my fifth place on the grid as I didn’t make any mistakes and performed to the maximum. It’s now up to us to score as many points as possible and make a good start from the cleaner side of the grid. Our strategy should help us to gain positions during the race."

Ron Dennis
"Today we saw another very good afternoon's work from both Lewis and Heikki, characterised by strong lap times that reflect their respective race strategies. All in all, therefore, we're well prepared for the first grand prix to be held on this exciting new racetrack. All the drivers did an exemplary job today, in fact, avoiding the walls in the tricky conditions. We hope that tomorrow's race will be equally incident-free, and that in time the Valencia event will become a regular, integral and much-admired element of the Formula 1 calendar. I would like to offer our congratulations to all concerned, and to the Valencia authorities in particular; with appropriate promotion, this Grand Prix promises to become a fabulous adjunct to our sport's existing harbour side spectacular, namely Monaco."