Lewis Hamilton fastest in practice

• Briton unexpectedly tops standings at Nürburgring• Sebastian Vettel third fastest ahead of Jensen ButtonLewis Hamilton pulled off a major surprise by setting the fastest time in practice for Sunday's German grand prix. The world champion had the No1 alongside his name, to match that on his car, for only the second time in practice in what has so far been a season to forget.Hamilton had suggested yesterday that little would change in the wake of a wretched sequence of results which has seen him fail to make the second round of qualifying at the last three grands prix.With just nine points from eight races to date, Hamilton currently trails the championship leader Jenson Button by 55 points, with McLaren's focus already starting to switch towards next season. Yet the 24-year-old found himself out in front at the end of the two 90-minute sessions at the Nürburgring – the scene of the worst accident of his career two years ago when he his car ploughed nose first into a barrier at 175mph.Despite a late spin, Hamilton put up a time of 1min 32.149sec that no-one was able to better in the closing stages, pushing Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel down into second.Vettel had looked set to cheer his home fans by taking top spot, but the 22-year-old was 0.182sec adrift. Button was third in his Brawn, just 0.220sec down, whilst Mark Webber – fastest in the morning session – had to settle for fourth in his Red Bull, 0.331sec behind Hamilton.Toyota's Jarno Trulli again fared well in fifth, and with the gremlins taken care of after a truncated morning run, Adrian Sutil was sixth in his Force India. It was an up-and-down day for Force India, as Giancarlo Fisichella, who was also sixth in the morning, crashed out in the afternoon when he spun into a barrier, ripping off his nose cone.There was also drama in the paddock when German police attempted to impound the team's assets due to a contractual dispute just before first practice. The situation was swiftly resolved by Force India officials, with the promise their weekend will continue without further disruption.Behind Sutil, Button's Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello was seventh, with Renault's Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet sandwiching Williams' Kazuki Nakajima in eighth, ninth and 10th.The Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were 12th and 16th, with the latter's Finnish compatriot Heikki Kovalainen 17th in his McLaren, 1.575sec behind team-mate Hamilton.Formula OneLewis HamiltonJenson ButtonMotor sportSebastian Vettelguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Lewis Hamilton disqualified by Melbourne stewards

Lewis Hamilton is facing one of the biggest crises of his career after it emerged that he had “deliberately misled” the stewards and the race director of the Australian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton's first pole of 2009

• Hamilton follows up win in Hungary with pole in Valencia• Heikki Kovalainen will start second in McLaren one-twoLewis Hamilton claimed his first pole position of the season as McLaren locked out the front row for tomorrow's European grand prix in Valencia.The reigning world champion, fresh from winning his first race of the season last time out in Hungary, posted a time of one minute 39.498 seconds to beat Heikki Kovalainen to top spot by less than a tenth of a second."Clearly, we have very, very good pace this weekend," said Hamilton. "We thought we would be competitive, but I don't think we thought we'd be on the front row. We've not had a one-two qualifying experience for quite a long time, so it's great to be here."Despite the turnaround in McLaren's fortunes, Hamilton insists there is no question of him getting carried away. "For sure, going into tomorrow we stand in the best position for a podium, but it all depends of strategy and how the start and the race goes."Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello will start behind Hamilton and Kovalainen in third, with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel fourth and championship leader Jenson Button fifth. Home favourite Fernando Alonso will be disappointed with eighth place for Renault.Elsewhere, Adrian Sutil's rapid practice pace failed to convert into anything more than 12th on the grid for Force India, Renault debutant Romain Grosjean had to settle for 14th and Felipe Massa's stand-in Luca Badoer suffered a torrid return to Formula One. Back behind the wheel of a grand prix car for the first time in a decade, the 38-year-old Ferrari test driver qualified last on the grid."I was hoping for better, but that more or less was the range," the Italian said. "We were expecting this. One year without driving and a new track, what could I do? This race is a test. I have to be better in the next race."Positions after qualifying:1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1min 39.498secs, 2 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:39.532, 3 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:39.563, 4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:39.789, 5 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:39.821, 6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:40.144, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:40.185, 8 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:40.236, 9 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:40.239, 10 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:40.512, 11 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:38.826, 12 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:38.846, 13 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:38.991, 14 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1:39.040, 15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.514, 16 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:39.531, 17 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:39.795, 18 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:39.807, 19 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.925, 20 Luca Badoer (Ita) Ferrari 1:41.413Formula OneLewis HamiltonMcLarenMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Vettel pips Button to Turkish GP pole

• Sebastian Vettel beats Jenson Button on final lap in Istanbul• Lewis Hamilton suffers oversteer and finishes a lowly 16thRed Bull's Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for the Turkish grand Prix ahead of Brawn GP's Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in this afternoon's qualifying session at Istanbul Park.The 21-year-old German driver left it until the final lap to post his fastest time of 1min 28.316secs and denied Button a hat-trick of starts from the front of the grid.It is the third pole of the 21-year-old German's career, with both his victories to date coming from the front of the grid, in Italy last year and China this season."It's quite a surprise to be quickest in all three sessions, but finally we have made it and we are ahead of the white cars," said Vettel. "It's been quite an effort by the team because we had some parts arrive late, but they've fixed them on and we've made it."The 2008 champion, Lewis Hamilton, had another afternoon to forget as he continued to struggle with his car which former constructor Eddie Jordan described as "simply hopeless, possibly the worst McLaren have ever designed".Hamilton struggled with his steering at corner eight and spun out of qualifying on the first round. He will start tomorrow's grand prix facing an uphill battle from 16th on the grid."Welcome to my world," said Hamilton in a rare display of gallows humour. "It's the car. It has got slower and slower throughout the weekend as the track has got hotter. It looked great yesterday, but this morning it didn't look fantastic."I don't think we should rush anything. It's better we take our time to refine it. It's not like we can claw back 60 points [in the championship]."Vettel's Red Bull team-mate, Mark Webber, will start the race fourth on the grid, ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli and the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.Leading grid positions after qualifying1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1min 28.316secs, 2 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:28.421, 3 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:28.579, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:28.613, 5 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:28.666, 6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:28.815, 7 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:28.858, 8 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:29.075, 9 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:29.191, 10 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:29.357, 11 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:27.521, 12 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:27.629, 13 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:27.795, 14 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:28.207, 15 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:28.391, 16 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:28.318, 17 Nelson Piquet Jr (Bra) Renault 1:28.582, 18 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:28.708, 19 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:28.717, 20 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:28.918Formula oneMotor sportLewis HamiltonMcLarenguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Lewis Hamilton wins his first Formula One pole of season at European Grand Prix

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took his first pole position of the season at the European Grand Prix in an all-McLaren front row on Saturday.

Ron Dennis ready to quit Formula One

Ron Dennis, the chairman and driving force behind McLaren Mercedes, is expected to announce today that he is standing down from all involvement with Formula One operations as part of a deal to keep Lewis Hamilton with the team.