Lewis Hamilton will start the German Grand Prix from pole position as he looks to follow up his brilliant win at Silverstone two weeks ago with victory at Hockenheim.

The Briton produced another outstanding performance to snatch pole from Ferrari’s Felipe Massa with his final qualifying lap. Hamilton’s McLaren-Mercedes teammate Heikki Kovalainen is third, with Jarno Trulli’s Toyota fourth, two places ahead of world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who struggled throughout qualifying to get the best out of his car.

With BMW’s Robert Kubica also well down the grid in seventh, the race looks to be set up for a battle between Hamilton and Massa, currently in a three-way tie with Raikkonen at the head of the world drivers’ championship.

Hamilton sounded genuinely confident after taking the ninth pole of his career, making it clear there is more performance to come from his car. Quickest in Q2, when the cars do not have to carry race fuel and are at their fastest, his first flying lap in final qualifying was stymied when Kovalainen, ahead of him, ran wide at the exit of turn 12, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.

“I made a big lift there, and so the time for my first lap wasn’t great,” said Hamilton. “But I knew I had it in me, I knew I had the pace, and my [second] lap was pretty smooth, it was pretty easy going. I was quite comfortable and could have gone a bit quicker, so I’m quite cool.”

He looked it too, smiling and happy in the knowledge the improvement evident in the balance of the McLaren cars at Silverstone has been maintained. The fact that he was more than a second faster than Kovalainen, who had out-qualified him in dry conditions at Silverstone, must also have pleased him.

Massa was downbeat, which may suggest the Ferraris were not fuelled heavier than the McLarens. “Qualifying was tough, very tight,” said the Brazilian. “We don’t know how much fuel everybody has, but in testing and practice the lap times have all been very tight, so it’s pretty competitive between Ferrari and McLaren. The race should be very exciting, but we need to do everything right.”

The reference to the numerous mistakes made by Ferrari at Silverstone will have caused a wince or two amongst Massa’s teammates. It may not have been insignificant that they were joined in the pit-lane yesterday by Michael Schumacher. With rain a strong possibility today, the presence of the master of strategy may be helpful when it comes to getting the tyre choice right, although Hamilton’s brilliance in the wet adds to the sense that McLaren have all bases covered.

Hamilton tried to be cautious. “It’s very close between all the teams, but it’s very, very tight between us and Ferrari, a tenth [of a second] here and there, but obviously I feel we have the pace, and if we keep pushing and moving forward, we can get the right result,” he said.

“The car’s made some great steps forward over the past weeks, and I’m so grateful to the team for the hard work they do towards achieving that.”

McLaren have significantly improved their car around slow corners, where Ferrari enjoyed a big advantage. Technically there is very little between the two teams now, which puts the focus firmly on the men behind the wheel, and at the moment, Hamilton is in the ascendancy.

David Coulthard, who will be replaced at Red Bull next season by Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel, was an encouraging 10th, and Jenson Button 14th. Honda chief executive Nick Fry refused to confirm they are to retain both Button and Rubens Barrichello next season, but it is believed an announcement will be made to that effect next month.