Felipe Massa lived up to his billing as the master of Istanbul Park by taking pole position for the Turkish Grand Prix for the third year in succession.
The diminutive Brazilian was the dominant force in the decisive Q3 session and secured his second pole of the season by 0.2s.
Watch qualifying highlights here
He is now ideally placed to claim a third straight Istanbul victory and rekindle his fading championship hopes – the more so because his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen qualified down in fourth behind the McLaren pair.
The Woking squad’s challenge will be led by Heikki Kovalainen, who continued his doughty return from his frightening Spanish Grand Prix crash to outqualify team-mate Lewis Hamilton for the second time this season.
Hamilton was the only front-runner to use the hard-compound ‘prime’ Bridgestone tyre for both Q3 runs, having felt that the medium ‘option’ rubber had been losing grip by the end of a single flying lap.
The gamble didn’t pay off, although in the circumstances Hamilton did well to trail Massa by only 0.3s and now has an extra set of new options available for the race.
Lewis certainly left nothing on the table in his efforts to extract the maximum speed from an uncooperative-looking car – flicking the MP4-23 onto full opposite lock as he collected a wild oversteering slide in the middle of the daunting turn eight on his first Q3 run.
Even on his final run he had the rear end was teetering on the brink of adhesion through turn eight and the front wheels were locking in the hard braking areas at turns seven and 12.
Raikkonen was less dramatic to watch but, after topping the times in the low-fuel Q2 session, fell off the pace when it mattered most.
The Finn’s final lap wasn’t made any easier by having to pass Fernando Alonso’s Renault on the back straight – but in any case he looked unlikely to topple his flying team-mate.
BMW Sauber failed to repeat its recent qualifying exploits, with Robert Kubica its best-placed driver in fifth and Nick Heidfeld struggling through all three sessions en route to ninth.
By contrast, Red Bull enjoyed its best qualifying hour of the season, getting both cars into Q3 for the first time.
Mark Webber showed his usual one-lap prowess to snatch sixth, four places ahead of David Coulthard, who was relieved to make it all the way to Q3 after his early baths in Bahrain and Spain.
After his heroics in Barcelona, Fernando Alonso played a more humble role in Istanbul but still did well to qualify seventh, four-tenths ahead of Jarno Trulli’s Toyota.
Qualifying 2
Ferrari struck the first blow in Q2, Raikkonen clocking a 1m26.050s and Massa a 1m26.192s to give the Italian team a 1-2.
Kubica split the Maranello pair in the closing stages with a 1m26.129s in the lead BMW, while team-mate Heidfeld was only ninth quickest and seemed to be struggling.
Kovalainen was fourth fastest but had been on course for a similar lap time to the Ferraris until a speed-sapping sideways moment coming out of turn nine.
Both Red Bull drivers comfortably made it through to Q3, with Webber fifth and Coulthard seventh – a particularly gratifying result for the Scot, who was eliminated in Q1 at the past two races.
Hamilton was a low-key sixth quickest, splitting the Red Bulls, with Alonso, Heidfeld and Trulli rounding out the top 10.
Nico Rosberg missed the cut by 0.2s, completing a disappointing day for Williams.
Honda duo Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button also fell by the wayside, so the Brazilian veteran will start his record-breaking 257th grand prix from 12th place.
Vettel did well to beat Toyota’s Glock to 14th place in the ageing Toro Rosso STR2B.
Qualifying 1
As expected, the Ferrari drivers struggled to extract first-lap pace from the F2008 and were initially shaded by the McLarens in Q1.
Raikkonen set the early benchmark of 1m26.766s but was soon demoted by the McLaren duo, Hamilton going fastest on 1m26.192s.
Raikkonen and Massa improved on their second laps and managed to split the McLarens, before a further run from Massa put him at the top of the timesheet with a 1m25.994s.
But the fact that the McLaren drivers hadn’t felt the need to venture out again suggested they were plenty confident heading into Q2.
Toyota was the surprise Q1 interloper, Glock and Trulli using the softer ‘option’ tyres to snatch fourth and fifth in the closing stages.
The adjustment to qualifying following Super Aguri’s demise meant that five drivers would be eliminated in both knock-out sessions.
Two men who would have hoped to make the cut for Q2 but failed to do so were Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) and Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault) – both of whom spun at turn 10.
Sebastian Vettel did a fine job to haul his Toro Rosso into the top 15, putting one over his team-mate Sebastien Bourdais, who has recently outperformed him.
With no Super Aguris to provide a buffer, Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil brought up the rear of the field.
Starting grid for the Turkish Grand Prix
1. MASSA Ferrari
2. KOVALAINEN McLaren
3. HAMILTON McLaren
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
5. KUBICA BMW
6. WEBBER Red Bull
7. ALONSO Renault
8. TRULLI Toyota
9. HEIDFELD BMW
10. COULTHARD Red Bull
11. ROSBERG Williams
12. BARRICHELLO Honda
13. BUTTON Honda
14. VETTEL Toro Rosso
15. GLOCK Toyota
16. NAKAJIMA Williams
17. PIQUET Renault
18. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
19. SUTIL Force India
20. FISICHELLA Force India*
*three-place grid penalty for passing red light at pit lane exit in practice