Lewis Hamilton will be on pole for the Japanese Grand Prix after a late flying lap sent him to the front of the grid on Sunday.Kimi Raikkonen was second for Ferrari ahead of McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, while Fernando Alonso qualified fourth on the grid in the Far East.
BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica will start sixth ahead of Toyota duo Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, with Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais of Toro Rosso ninth and 10th respectively.
British star Hamilton, who leads the title race by seven points from Massa, was, understandably, delighted with the result and is looking forward to pressing home his advantage on Sunday.
"I'm very happy," he said. "The team have done a phenomenal job. It was pretty straightforward. The last lap I put all the sectors together and I was able to bring it home.
"We will push forward with the strategy on Sunday. It's going to be a tough race because Kimi is right there but we will take as many points as we can."
1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.404
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:18.644
3. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.821
4. Fernando Alonso (Spn) Renault 1:18.852
5. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:18.874
6. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:18.979
7. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:19.026
8. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:19.118
9. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:19.638
10. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.167
11. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:18.187
12. Nelson Piquet (Brz) Renault 1:18.274
13. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:18.354
14. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1:18.594
15. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:18.672
16. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:18.835
17. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:18.882
18. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:19.100
19. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 1:19.163
20. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 1:19.910
