McLaren's championship leader Lewis Hamilton took pole position on Saturday for a Chinese Grand Prix that could make him Formula One's first rookie champion.
The 22-year-old will line up alongside Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen on the front row for Sunday's race.
Double world champion and McLaren team mate Fernando Alonso, 12 points behind Hamilton with just two races remaining, qualified fourth with Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa ahead of him in third.
"Thanks a lot guys, mega job. The car was fantastic," Hamilton said on the team radio after setting his best lap of the weekend in the dying seconds of the session.
"Job done, job done, P1," came the reply.
Starting grid for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on Sunday.
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari
3. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari
4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren
5. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Renault
6. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota
7. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault
8. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber
9. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber
10. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda
11. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso - Ferrari
12. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso - Ferrari
13. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota
14. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault
15. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri - Honda
16. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota
17. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda
18. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault
19. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams - Toyota
20. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda
21. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Spyker - Ferrari
22. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) Spyker - Ferrari
