Sao Paulo, Brazil - Local hero Felipe Massa of Ferrari grabbed pole for today's F1 championship showdown at the Brazilian Grand Prix with a dazzling lap in a dramatic and hotly contested qualifying session.

Massa, who trails Lewis Hamilton by seven points in the title race, clocked a best time of 1min 12.368sec in the third and final part of yesterday's qualifying session.

McLaren's Hamilton, who needs to finish in the top five to become the youngest and first black champion in F1 history, qualified fourth behind Massa, Italian Jarno Trulli in his Toyota and outgoing world champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari.

Trulli split the two Ferraris with a dramatic last-gasp lap that forced Raikkonen down a place and wrecked the Italian team's hopes of an all-scarlet front row.

It was Massa's sixth pole position of the season, his third in succession at Interlagos and the 15th of his career.

Hamilton's teammate, Finn Heikki Kovalainen, qualified fifth ahead of two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault.

German Sebastian Vettel was seventh for Toro Rosso ahead of compatriot Nick Heidfeld in a BMW Sauber, Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais in the second Toro Rosso and another German Timo Glock for Toyota.

On a warm, sunny day with vastly improved conditions following Friday's cold and wet weather, the session began slowly with Nelson Piquet venturing out first in his Renault to give his compatriots something to cheer.

Once the real action began, there were roars of approval for Massa and boos for Hamilton as the big crowd, packed into the basin-like arena of Interlagos, revelled in the atmosphere.

Hamilton was quick to set a fastest time and the two Ferrari men, led by Massa had to wait until the final minutes to overhaul him. Massa's lap in 1:11.830 was the fastest of the weekend at that time.

Hamilton was obviously content to sit most of the session out and take third.

But it was farewell to the five at the bottom with Japanese Kazuki Nakajima and his Williams teammate German Nico Rosberg both eliminated along with Force India's German Adrian Sutil and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Briton Jenson Button of Honda.

In the second part-session, the McLarens showed they were in command again when after Hamilton clocked his best effort in 1:11.856 to top the standings, he was beaten by teammate Kovalainen's 1:11.768.

Massa was third-fastest and stayed in the Ferrari garage as the young German tyro Vettel flew to second for Toro Rosso in the final seconds, shifting Hamilton to third ahead of Massa.

This final flurry saw some shuffled places and out went Piquet, Australian Mark Webber of Red Bull and his teammate Briton David Coulthard, Pole Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello of Honda. --AFP