Hamilton wins Indy pole; McLaren favorite at 'Michael's track'

INDIANAPOLIS -- The one constant in the seven years since the United States Grand Prix came to Indianapolis has been Michael Schumacher.

The German ace drove his Ferrari to five victories and two runner-up finishes on the road course at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But now that the seven-time Formula One champion is retired to a consulting position with his former team, the door is wide open for another driver to put his imprint on this event.

"This was Michael's track," said two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso. "Now, it could be much more of a race for everyone."

Alonso and Mercedes McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton, a 22-year-old rookie who has taken F1 by storm, are the favorites heading into Sunday's 73-lap event on the 2.605-mile, 13-turn circuit.

Hamilton, showing little respect for his elders, outran Alonso and Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen on Saturday to win his second pole in a row.

"Getting my second pole is even better than last week," said Hamilton, the first black driver in F1 history. "When the team told me I had P1, I again screamed in my helmet and just through the whole lap. I was just extremely ecstatic."

After Massa and Raikkonen took the top two spots briefly with about 4 minutes to go in the 15-minute final qualifying session, Alonso jumped to the top with a lap of 1 minute, 13.500 seconds.

Seconds later, Hamilton took the top spot at 1:13.385 and stayed out front to the end, posting a final lap of 1:13.331 to wrap up his second F1 pole in only his seventh try.

The pole was unexpected since Alonso had been faster than Hamilton in two days of practice, but Hamilton, who keeps one-upping himself, said it was just hard work paying off.

"I was quite surprised (to win the pole), to be honest, mainly because it's my first time here," the young Englishman said. "I haven't really been performing as good as Fernando has. But, going into qualifying, just throughout the whole weekend I'm always trying to find that little bit more, little bit more. And each time I go out I improve and improve."

"Experience is everything here. The more I get out on the track, the faster I get."

That's bad news for both his teammate, whom he leads by eight points in the season standings, and Massa and Raikkonen, who hope to challenge the McLaren drivers on Sunday.