MT. FUJI, JAPAN - Lewis Hamilton took his fifth F1 pole position of the year at Mount Fuji on Saturday afternoon, by just 0.070s over his McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso on a wet track. 

In Saturday’s difficult qualifying with a wet track and poor visibility, Lewis put in a time of 1m25.368. Fernando Alonso qualified second fastest with 1m25.438 and made it the fifth all Vodafone McLaren Mercedes front row of the year.

Most important about the pole for Hamilton is the physiological advantage he gains over Alonso who had the upper hand on the British rookie the last two races.  Just two points separate the two.

An all-red second row for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro behind an all-silver front row for McLaren-Mercedes on a day badly affected by the temperamental weather here in the shadow of Mount Fuji.

"A very good qualifying for me and also the team," said a happy Hamilton.  "I really like the Fuji circuit. We looked strong already yesterday during practice when it was dry. Obviously today’s wet conditions made it a very challenging session particularly as this morning’s free practice had been cancelled - this makes today’s result even more satisfying. The car ran perfectly, and the team has done a great job in making sure we were as prepared as possible. My final lap was quite good. I managed to improve my style in a couple of corners which made a difference but lost a little bit of time in the exit of the last corner. Today’s pole position is important, but tomorrow is when it counts."

The past few days here near Japan’s highest and most famous mountain have been spent in warm and dry conditions, but rain began to fall during the night and by this morning, Mount Fuji and indeed much of the circuit was shrouded in mist and light drizzle. The morning free practice session was abandoned because of the poor conditions after just three drivers - Wurz, Rosberg and Trulli - had set a lap time.

Others did just a single installation lap, while Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen chose to stay in the warmth of his garage. Therefore the first ever qualifying session at the new Mount Fuji layout was a real step into the unknown, as it was run in permanent, if slightly improving, wet conditions, everyone running on both types of rain tire, "extreme" in the early stages and "wet" towards the end.

Some traffic and gearbox electrics causing a few headaches for Kimi Raikkonen and a handling imbalance for Felipe Massa on new tires in the crucial final stages is all it took in this closely fought session, for the Finn to take third and the Brazilian to take fourth place, behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton on pole and his teammate Fernando Alonso in second spot.

Fifth place went to the ever consistent Nick Heidfeld in the Sauber-BMW ahead of Nico Rosberg in the Williams-Toyota. However, the Finn will drop ten places on tomorrow’s grid, his car having required an engine change. This promotes the Honda of Jenson Button to the outside of the third row.

Results