LEWIS Hamilton got his bid for the Formula One world championship off to the perfect start after taking pole position for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver's time of one minute 26.714 seconds was good enough to edge out Robert Kubica's BMW Sauber by 0.155secs, with team-mate Heikki Kovalainen third.

But defending champion Kimi Raikkonen will start way down the field after his Ferrari came to a halt in the pit lane during Qualifying One, while team-mate Felipe Massa could only manage fourth to complete an underwhelming start for the Italian outfit.

Hamilton hit the front midway through Qualifying Three, setting a time of 1min 27.092secs, with Massa well-placed in second and Kovalainen third, albeit half a second adrift.

As the session expired, Kubica was the first to lay down the gauntlet, recording a lap of 1:26.869 although he lost vital fractions after running wide at turn 12 and it proved crucial as Hamilton bettered the Pole's mark with a tidy effort to ensure he will start the 58-lap showdown from the best possible position.

But disaster struck for Raikkonen as, after setting a time in Qualifying One, his Ferrari crawled back to the pits before stopping in the pitlane and the Finn was pushed back to the garage, meaning his participation was forced to come to a premature end. The defending world champion will now start from 16th on the grid.

Kovalainen will line-up behind his McLaren team-mate after his effort of 1:27.079 was good enough for third, just under one one hundredth of a second quicker than Massa, who decided against trying to improve his earlier time after diving into the pits.

Nick Heidfeld starts fifth in the second BMW, while Jarno Trulli piloted his Toyota to an impressive sixth place. Nico Rosberg claimed seventh for the Grove-based Williams team and David Coulthard grabbed an impressive eight for Red Bull. Timo Glock was ninth in the other Toyota, while Sebastian Vettel ended an impressive tenth for Toro Rosso.

Brackley-based Honda's Jenson Button missed out on a place in Q3 and will start 13th, one place behind Fernando Alonso's Enstone-built Renault, who was also eliminated along with Button's team-mate Barrichello and Kazuki Nakajima in the Williams.

Alonso's Renault team-mate Nelson Piquet starts 21st and the Leafield-built Super Aguris of Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson start the race in 20th and 22nd.