Lewis Hamilton will start today’s European Grand Prix in Valencia from the front row after qualifying second fastest behind Felipe Massa, but the young British driver may not have a home circuit on which to display his talent after next year.

It emerged yesterday that the likelihood of Donington being ready to stage a British Grand Prix in 2010, always a long shot because of the massive infrastructure improvements required at the East Midlands circuit, is now considered so remote that informed sources within the sport believe that the 2009 Grand Prix at Silver-stone will be the last staged in Britain for at least five years.

If Donington fails to meet the demanding terms of the contract the circuits owners signed with Bernie Ecclestone, whose companies retain control of all Formula One’s commercial rights, Russia is believed to be the favourite to take the slot currently occupied by Britain. The going rate demanded by Ecclestone is currently around £22m per race, with a built-in annual increase of 10%, and Britain is the only Grand Prix not to receive massive state funding.

Hamilton, however, is focused on the immediate future, which means finding a way past Massa. The Ferrari driver has picked up where he left off before the sport’s three-week summer break, when he drove immaculately at the Hungarian Grand Prix only to be denied victory when his engine failed three laps before the end.

Once again Massa out-per-formed his teammate, world champion Kimi Raikkonen, to put his car on pole, and while every driver is still coming to terms with the characteristics and lay-out of the new street circuit, the long straights and preponderance of fast but slightly awkward corners appear to suit the Brazilian’s style.

What does seem a safe bet, however, is that the safety car will be deployed at some stage during today’s race, and possibly more than once. There are more run-off areas than might have been expected, but the concrete walls and high fences that line much of the track makes recovery of stricken cars a relatively lengthy process.

Massa, who was more than 0.2sec faster than Hamilton, produced a sensationally fast first sector in his final qualifying lap, and kept things together tidily enough thereafter. Hamilton, who had made no obvious mistakes in his final lap, could only acknowledge he had been second best.

“Qualifying was quite straightforward and my last [flying] lap was pretty good so I’m pretty happy,” said the Englishman. “In sector one he destroyed everyone, so for sure Ferrari will be hard to beat, but we will push hard to do it.

“The car was great, but I was a tenth down at the first corner so there is some time [to be found] there. But it is a solid position to be in.”

With heavy rain on Friday night having washed away most of the rubber laid down by the cars during practice, grip levels improved during the session, but Massa said the surface had still been slippery.

“To make the perfect lap is very difficult but we have a great car and we will show again that we are competitive,” said the 27-year-old.

Massa, for whom this was a fourth pole of the season, currently lies eight points behind Hamilton in the drivers’ world championship, which considering that not one national or international publication predicted he would win the title this year is a reflection of his new-found consistency.

There were other surprises during the session. Robert Kubica’s third, just ahead of Raikkonen, signified a return to form for BMW. The Pole’s championship challenge had been written off by some, with the German team’s recent performance suggesting their development had stalled compared to that of rivals Ferrari and McLaren, but Kubica said bad luck had also played its part.

“All the hard work we have been doing since Hungary has paid off and this was a very good qualifying – the pace of the car here is not that bad,” said the driver.

Sebastian Vettel and Sebast-ien Bourdais produced Toro Ros-so’s best-ever qualifying by finishing sixth and 10th fastest respectively, but Jenson Button and David Coulthard both failed to progress beyond the first session, a particular disappointment for Button after the Honda driver set the third fastest time in Friday afternoon’s practice.

“We’ve been quick all weekend but we simply chose the wrong tyres for my final run in Q1,” said Button. “I’m really disappointed as we have improved the car, but didn’t make the most of it.”

Most drivers and their teams praised the circuit. The only similarity to Monaco, thankfully in terms of the racing spectacle, is that both adjoin a har-bour, but it was slightly disquieting to note while three potential overtaking areas have been 25
Number of corners on the Valencia circuit, Formula One’s first new track since Istanbul Park was introduced in 2005. It is expected to be one of the quickest circuits on the calendar with an average speed of 140mph identified, passing manoeuvres during yesterday’s GP2 race were relatively infrequent. It was not surprising then that Ferrari team manager Luca Baldisserri said he thought the start of today’s race could be decisive, while joining the likes of Renault technical chief Pat Symonds in highlighting the risk of a safety car period.