SHANGHAI, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - Britain´s Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix after winning the qualifying session in a McLaren-Mercedes here on Saturday.

Kimi Raikkonen of Finland took second position, followed by fellow Ferrari driver Felipe Massa of Brazil in third.

Hamilton´s team mate, double champion Fernando Alonso of Spain, came in fourth.

Sunday´s race is the penultimate leg of the 17-race world championship.

World championship leader Hamilton, 22, only needs to finish ahead of team-mate Alonso and Ferrari´s Kimi Raikkonen to become the youngest driver, and the first rookie, to clinch the title.

Hamilton is currently 12 points ahead of Alonso and 17 from Ferrari´s Kimi Raikkonen as they head into the penultimate race ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix later this month.

On Friday Hamilton was cleared of erratic driving during his Japanese Grand Prix win, the latest episode in a turbulent debut year.

Last month Hamilton´s team McLaren was fined 100 million dollars and thrown out of the constructors´ championship over secret information leaked by an ex-Ferrari engineer.

Hamilton has also been at loggerheads with team-mate Alonso, the reigning world champion.