Lewis Hamilton faces an uphill task to win as he takes on a man desperate to erase the heartache of his last race.

Current championship leader Hamilton starts from second on the grid at the impressive Valencia Street Circuit behind a fired-up Felipe Massa, on pole for the 13th time in his career.

The Brazilian, eight points adrift of Hamilton in the standings, is still smarting after victory was snatched from his grasp in a cruel fashion three weeks ago in Hungary.

Massa would have taken over at the top but for his Ferrari engine blowing three laps from home when he was coasting to the win.

The 27-year-old has had to carry that pain through the summer break and is now eager to atone and take the chequered flag in Valencia, making its debut on the Formula One calendar.

With a determined Massa ahead of him, Hamilton knows he will have his hands full.

"It will be a close fight again with Ferrari, but as you saw in sector one (on the track), Felipe destroyed everyone," remarked Hamilton.

"They're going to be the car to beat, but we're going to push as hard as we can to do so.

"We've done a great job so far. Our approach has been as good as ever. "We've come here with a strong package, and at least we're close to the Ferraris.

"I'm quite happy with the job we've done today, and being on the front row puts us in a good position to fight for a win, so I'm very, very happy.

"It's just important we get a good start. I'll aim to challenge Felipe, but if I don't get close enough then I will just try to keep my position."

That might be as good as it gets if Massa storms away from the start as he did at the Hungaroring when he blitzed past Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen from third on the grid to lead at the first corner.

But after controlling the race, daylight robbery followed, and it still gnaws away at Massa even now.

"To have that problem with three laps to go and with the win in my pocket, it was so bad," reflected Massa.

"The summer break didn't help with my frustration because when you have such a bad race, you want to race again to try and get rid of that frustration.

"But sometimes frustration can be good. It can motivate you even more, and that is why I was in contact with my team to motivate them because we suffered together.

"Now I am exactly where I want to be. You always want to be top, especially after such a bad result and how it happened.

"We have a great car, which we have shown in so many races this year, and as we did in the last race, but unfortunately sometimes things can happen.

"We have shown again here we are competitive, and that's the most important thing. The team have done a great job, and now let's go for the win."

Hamilton at least has his closest title rival in reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen behind him in fourth, with Robert Kubica separating the Briton from the Finn in third.

It is the eighth time in 12 races this year Raikkonen has been out- qualified by Massa, a problem he was determined to correct coming into this race, but one which still clearly remains an issue.

That has at least played into Hamilton's hands, with the 23-year-old adding: "I'm generally very happy.

"It's a good starting position, and so a great opportunity with me being on the front row."

Kubica, 13 points behind Hamilton and eager to prove he is still in with a shout of the title, was back in the top three for the first time since his victory in Canada.

"After some unhappy races of late the pace of the car here is not as bad as it was before, although we're still down a little compared to Ferrari and McLaren," assessed Kubica.

"Hopefully we won't make the same mistakes in tomorrow's race as we did in Hungary with the tyre pressures."

Behind Heikki Kovalainen in fifth, Sebastien Vettel starts a career -high sixth for Toro Rosso, with Toyota's Jarno Trulli seventh and Nick Heidfeld eighth in his BMW Sauber.

To complete a stunning day for Toro Rosso, Sebastien Bourdais made it into the top 10 for the first time in his debut F1 season.

But it was a torrid session for Jenson Button and David Coulthard as the two Britons will start 16th and 17th in their Honda and Red Bull respectively.