The Mercedes driver, who had struggled with car balance during practice, posted a 1:29.398 to lead Sebastian Vettel by just over a tenth, with Mark Webber finishing third.

As qualifying loomed, all eyes were on reigning World Champion Vettel and Nico Rosberg who had secured the top two positions in final practice. However, the Mercedes driver dramatically failed to make it through to the top ten shootout, having been caught out by track evolution in the final stages of the second qualifying phase.

The subsequent battle for pole was a thrilling one; Vettel seized the early advantage during the first sequence of runs, but when the final set of laps arrived it was Hamilton who found the most time. The Briton used every inch of the circuit en route to his 29th career pole position, a figure which puts him level with the great Juan Manuel Fangio.

Webber wound up a tenth behind team-mate Vettel in third, with Lotus drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean showing much stronger pace to claim fourth and fifth. Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo delivered another impressive performance in sixth, edging out Ferrari duo Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. Jenson Button and Nico Hulkenberg opted to look towards the race by refraining from posting times.

In addition to Rosberg, Force India's Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil were established names knocked out in Q2. The pair will start from 12th and 15th on Sunday afternoon, with Mexicans Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez in between them. Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne was the final man to fall from the penultimate phase, being forced to watch on as team-mate Ricciardo made Q3 for the second time in a week.

Ahead of its 600th Formula 1 race appearance, Williams endured a challenging session. Both Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado were unable to make it past the Q1 hurdle, the pair struggling to find a comfortable car balance throughout practice.

Charles Pic again led the battle at the back, putting his Caterham just ahead of recovering Marussia driver Jules Bianchi. Giedo van der Garde was next up in 21st position, while Max Chilton brought up the rear, over a second adrift of his team-mate.