Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen at the Hungaroring circuit on Saturday. (Reuters)

Budapest: World championship leader Lewis Hamilton put himself on course for a third successive Grand Prix victory after grabbing an emphatic pole position for Sunday’s Hungarian race.

The Briton powered around the blisteringly hot Hungaroring track in one minute 20.899 seconds, with teammate Heikki Kovalainen posting the second best time of 1:21.140.

“It’s been a pretty decent weekend for us so far and I feel safe with the position we’re in,” Hamilton told a news conference.

“The team have done a great job in improving our car even from the last weekend and it would be great to get a 1-2 on Sunday. It would be about time.”

Hamilton’s nearest rival for the drivers’ title, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, had to settle for third place after finishing his last flying lap in 1:21.191.

“I wasn’t 100 per cent happy with my laps in Q3,” said Massa.

“I definitely have the feeling we can push these guys tomorrow (Sunday).”Massa’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen will start in a disappointing sixth place behind BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica and Toyota’s Timo Glock.

The qualifying result will give a huge advantage to the McLaren team, who should prove hard to overtake on the slow and twisty Budapest course.

Twice world champion Fernando Alonso will line up on the fourth row of the grid for Renault after finishing qualifying in seventh place.

BMW-Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld was a surprise casualty of the first qualifying session, failing to go through after apparently being held up by congestion at the final bend of his last flying lap.

Heidfeld, fifth in the overall standings, will start Sunday’s race in 16th place ahead of Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and Honda’s Rubens Barrichello, with Force India pair Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella bringing up the rear.