ISTANBUL, May 10, 2008 (AFP) - Heikki Kovalainen delivered a remarkable performance Saturday when he grabbed his first Formula One front row start for the Turkish Grand Prix just 13 days after being air-lifted to hospital at the previous race in Spain.

The Finn said afterwards that he was understandably "very happy with his performance" after clocking the second best start in his McLaren Mercedes car.

The McLaren driver, cleared to race in Turkey only on Thursday following his heavy crash at the Circuit de Catalona, put on his best qualifying show in his brief F1 career as he wound up second-fastest to Ferrari´s Brazlilian ace Felipe Massa.

"It has been a bit of roller coaster the last couple of weeks," admitted the Finn, who out-qualified his team-mate Briton Lewis Hamilton for the second time this season. Hamilton was third.

He added: "I was lucky to survive Spain with no injuries. The recovery has been fantastic, and I have to say thanks to the medical people in Spain and in Finland.

"I knew coming here I would pass the medical. I have been happy here with my car, and confident in myself, all the time. My lap in Q3 was very clean and it´s a pleasure to start from the front row."

Kovalainen said he never had doubts about his fitness following his crash in Barcelona.

"I would not have come here if I didn´t feel I was 100 percent fit and last week I was back to normal," he said. "Last week I did a normal physical preparation and it has been all going very well."

He added that it was tricky to choose the right tyre strategy, but he was delighted with the outcome.

"It looks like I made the right decision in qualifying. It is going to be tricky and very easy to make a mistake. If the wind or the conditions change it can affect you."

Team-mate Hamilton was left lamenting his tyre choice after failing to fight for pole position ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix.

Hamilton will start the race from third place after choosing the harder tyre compound for his final run in the third qualifying segment.

While all his rivals chose the softer option, the McLaren driver decided to use the prime tyres because he felt they were more consistent.

In the end the decision did not favour him and Hamilton admitted it was a mistake.

"It was a tough qualifying session for me," said Hamilton. "I had a fantastic lap in Q1, and in Q2 I struggled a bit on the option tyre so I opted for the prime tyre (for Q3) because I felt it would be more consistent.

"I did it and I guess I made the wrong decision."

He added: "It wasn´t too bad. I struggled in the first Q3 lap. It was terrible and I was in the 29s. The second one for sure was an improvement but still wasn´t quick enough."

The Briton said he remained confident for the race.

"I think we have got a good package this weekend and myself and Heikki have shown we are up there with the Ferraris and should be able to push them in the race," he said.