Valencia, Spain - Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton led home a McLaren-Mercedes 1-2 Saturday to claim pole position for the European Formula One Grand Prix in Valencia.

The winner of last month's Hungarian GP registered a time of 1 minute 39.498 seconds for the 5.419-kilometre street circuit, finishing 0.034 seconds ahead of teammate Heikki Kovalainen.

Rubens Barrichello in a Brawn GP finished third fastest, 0.065 behind Hamilton with Sebastian Vettel fourth in a Red Bull and championship leader Jenson Button fifth in the second Brawn GP.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen had to settle for sixth with Nico Rosberg of Williams seventh. Spain's Fernando Alonso qualified down in eighth at his home GP for Renault with Red Bull's Mark Webber and Robert Kubica of BMW-Sauber completing the top 10 for Sunday's race.

Luca Badoer, who was driving as Felipe Massa's replacement after Michael Schumacher was forced to withdraw through injury, will start from the back of the grid in his Ferrari after qualifying in last place.

Button, who won five of the opening seven season races but is now without a victory in the following three, leads the drivers' standings on 70 points with seven races remaining. Webber is second on 51.5, followed by teammate Vettel on 47 and Barrichello on 44 points. (dpa)