Sao Paulo - Ferrari's Felipe Massa took pole position for for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit in qualifying Saturday while championship leader Lewis Hamilton starts from fourth on the grid.

Massa registered a time of 1 minute 12.368 seconds for the 4.309- kilometre circuit to claim a third pole in succession at his home GP while Toyota's Jarno Trulli caused a major surprise by taking the second spot on the front row in 1:12.737 minutes.

Defending champion Kimi Raikkonen claimed third in the second Ferrari with Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes a disappointing fourth, nearly half a second slower than Massa.

Heikki Kovalainen qualified in fifth behind teammate Hamilton with Renault's Fernando Alonso sixth.

Hamilton needs just a fifth place finish in Sunday's race to ensure he goes into the record books as the youngest ever F1 champion while Massa requires a win or second spot, and must also rely on his rival finishing outside the top five, to become the first Brazilian since Ayrton Senna in 1991 to take the title. (dpa)