SHANGHAI, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - Lewis Hamilton took a huge step towards becoming the first rookie to win the drivers´ World Championship with a stunning lap on Saturday to seize pole position in the Chinese Grand Prix.

The British sensation claimed the sixth pole of his career for McLaren-Mercedes by fractions of a second from Ferrari´s Kimi Raikkonen with his other title rival Fernando Alonso back in fourth place.

The double world champion trailed home behind Ferrari´s Felipe Massa and now faces a huge task trying to deny Hamilton a place in the record books.

Hamilton, 22, leads his teammate Alonso by 12 points with Raikkonen five points further adrift and will be crowned the youngest champion in history if he leads the field home on Sunday.

Finishing ahead of both Raikkonen and Alonso in the 56-lap race on the 4.451km circuit would also be enough to clinch the title. Hamilton had only been cleared to race on Friday evening after complaints about his driving behind the safety car in last weekend´s race in Japan.

Afterwards he said: "It has been an emotional roller-coaster this weekend. Coming here having won in Fuji and then hearing I was being investigated.

"I thought I might get a penalty, but it was a good decision by the FIA.

"I did not expect to have the pace of the Ferrari but just kept chipping away. It is a great feeling. I always enjoy getting pole position."

Hamilton said he was not worried about Sunday´s weather conditions.

"I am not particularly bothered if it is wet or dry in the race," he said. "With the experience of Fuji that´s gives me a lot of confidence and we are in best position to start the race.

"I feel very optimistic about it. I´ve got a good car and the team did a great job. I´ll approach it the same was as I always do. I want to win and do good job. If I do that it might be a good day for us, so fingers crossed."

The Hertfordshire-born driver, with father Anthony watching from the sidelines, had been fourth fastest going into the final session but took pole with a blazing final lap of one minute 35.908 seconds.

Raikkonen, who had dominated the weekend until the final session, clocked 1:36.044 with Massa 0.2 seconds back. Raikkonen said: "Qualifying was okay and I had good speed in practice. I am very happy that the car is going so well, we will have a good car whatever the conditions. Last time I drove here it was wet but it is not as bad as Fuji, the visibility should be better.

"I think I can fight for the race but the championship is not looking good, but you never know. I am quite confident."

Massa, meanwhile, was ruing a mistake on his final flying lap. He said: "I came to turn 11 too quick and completely lost the rear so it wasn´t a good lap. But it is okay starting third. If it is raining it will be like a lottery as it always is in the wet."

Spaniard Alonso, whose relationship with McLaren boss Ron Dennis has deteriorated this season was more than half-a-second off the pace and faces losing his crown to the young pretender.

Renault´s Giancarlo Fisichella failed to qualify from the first session after finishing a lowly 18th with team principal Flavio Briatore absent having been held up in Europe on business.

It did not get much better for Renault in the second session as Finland´s Heikki Kovalainen, who finished a career best second in Fuji last Sunday, failed to reach the top 10 battle for grid positions after posting the 14th fastest time.

Also out in the second session was Williams lead driver Nico Rosberg who will start 16th. The team are battling for fourth place in the Constructors´ championship with Red Bull for whom David Coulthard and Mark Webber will line-up 5th and 7th.