Raikkonen gets pole as Alonso and Schumacher are penalised

By Volker Gundrum Aug 5, 2006, 17:34 GMT

Finnish Formula One driver Kimi Raikkkonen of team McLaren Mercedes gives the thumbs up after the third practice session of the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring racetrack near Budapest, Hungary, Saturday 05 August 2006. Raikkonen will start the race from the pole position. The Grand Prix takes place coming Sunday, 06 August 2006. EPA/Carmen Jaspersen

Budapest - McLaren-Mercedes' Kimi Raikkonen benefited from penalties imposed on Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso as he took pole position for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen needed one minute 19.599 seconds for the 4.381 kilometre-long lap on the Hungaroring to qualify for first place on the grid ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa who was .287 seconds behind.

Raikkonen said it made no difference to him whether Schumacher would have managed to beat his time. 'There are rules and these need to be respected. But of course I am happy that I will be starting from first and not from second.'

He dismissed speculation that McLaren's Michelin tyres could have problems during the race. 'I think there will be no problem as the car is doing really well.'

Massa said he was going to try to do the best in the race. 'The penalty for Schumacher is disappointing, but we will just need to work very hard and push for the title.'

He said that he thought he could have gone even faster: 'But on my last lap I had a slower car ahead of me.'

Rubens Barrichello had the third fastest time ahead of Jenson Button, but the British Honda driver will lose 10 places after a crash forced him to change his engine.

Starting alongside Barrichello on the second row will be Raikkonen's team-mate Pedro De la Rosa who had the fifth fastest time but moved up a place because of Button's engine change.

The third row belongs to Williams driver Mark Webber and Ralf Schumacher in a Toyota.

The two leading championship contenders, Alonso and Schumacher, both went into the qualifying session carrying two-second penalties after being found guilty of overtaking during a no-overtaking phase.

Both Alonso and Schumacher made it through to the second round of qualifying but failed to make up enough ground to be placed in the top ten and will start from 14th and 11th place respectively.

Schumacher insinuated that while he accepted that he needed to take some of the blame for his mistake, there was more to it. 'If you look at the TV footage you will see that there is something else. I think people should look at the footage and then make up their mind.'

Alonso leads the championship standings with 100 points from Schumacher who has 89 after 12 of 18 season races.