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SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS - Kimi Raikkonen took pole position in Belgium to lead Ferrari to their first one-two of the season in qualifying and pile more pressure on suffering McLaren.
The Finn, winner of the previous two Belgian Grands Prix with McLaren and taking his 13th career pole and third of the season, lapped in 1:45.994, with Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa second fastest.
McLaren's 22-year-old championship leader Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth and starts on the second row alongside his Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso.
The Briton leads double world champion Alonso by three points with four races remaining in the only battle that now interests McLaren after the team were stripped of their 2007 constructors' points and fined $US100 million for a spy scandal.
Raikkonen is third overall, 18 points adrift of the 22-year-old British rookie.
Ferrari, 57 points clear of second-placed BMW Sauber with a maximum 54 remaining to be won after Spa, can mathematically clinch the constructors' championship in Belgium -- the last race in Europe this season.
Raikkonen, who struggled with a sore neck at Ferrari's home Italian Grand Prix last weekend after a crash in practice, said his car had handled differently in the final session that gave Ferrari their first one-two in qualifying this season.
"It doesn't feel exactly right but we can change it later," he said.
"We expect to be strong again here but it's going to be a very close race...I think we are in a good position with both cars so we will see what we can do."
Alonso, who lost control and spun with five minutes remaining in the session but recovered to seize third place from Hamilton, agreed it would be a hard fight on Sunday.
"We all know that maybe Spa will be a little more like Turkey," he said referring to last month's race in Istanbul that Ferrari won one-two.
"We saw Ferrari very strong there so we expect them to be strong and fighting for the win tomorrow. But we made some improvements in the car as well from Turkey and it should pay off tomorrow in the race.
"We don't know if we can fight with them for the victory but it will not be as easy for them as it was in Turkey, I hope," added the Spaniard.
Poland's Robert Kubica qualified fifth for BMW Sauber but will take a 10-place penalty on the starting grid for an engine change after final practice.
That lifted Germany's Nico Rosberg to fifth for Williams with compatriot Nick Heidfeld alongside in his BMW Sauber.
Australian Mark Webber, for Red Bull and Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli shared the fourth row, with the Renault of Heikki Kovalainen and Toyota's Ralf Schumacher completing the top 10 on the grid.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who had qualified 10th for Renault, went to the back of the grid after an engine change.
- REUTERS
