Raikkonen leads Ferrari 1-2 in Belgian GP qualifying

Sep 15, 2007, 15:44 GMT

Finnish Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari steers his car past a sign that forbids pedestrians to pass during the qualifying session at the Belgium Formula One circuit in Spa-Francorchamps, 15 September 2007. The race will be held on 16 September 2007. EPA/JENS BUETTNER

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium - Kimi Raikkonen grabbed pole position ahead of Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa in qualifying Saturday for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Ferraris left the McLaren drivers on the second row of the grid, with defending champion Fernando Alonso third and overall leader Lewis Hamilton fourth.

Raikkonen clocked 1 minute 45.994 seconds to edge Massa by 0.017 and Alonso by 0.097 seconds, with Hamilton 0.395 seconds adrift, for his third pole of the season.

With four races remaining, Britain's Hamilton has 92 points in the championship, three more than Alonso (Spain), with Raikkonen (Finland) on 74 and Massa (Brazil) on 69.

The BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica and Williams's Nico Rosberg were next fastest, but Kubica will drop ten places on the grid after an engine change following Saturday morning's final practice.

The Ferraris were expected to do well on F1's longest circuit, at just over 7 kilometres, in the first race following McLaren's exclusion from the constructors' championships following the FIA hearing Paris on Thursday into the 'spygate' affair.

Raikkonen, who won in Spa two years ago when the last Grand Prix was held in Belgium, said: 'I am happy to be on pole. It is a good result for the team.'

At last Sunday's Italian Grand Prix in Monza, McLaren dominated with Alonso beating Hamilton, leaving Raikkonen third and Massa failing to finish.

But Raikkonen said Spa was more comparable to the Istanbul track where Ferrari had enjoyed a 1-2 at the Turkish Grand Prix on August 26.

'We knew Monza was going to be a tricky for us. This is more like Istanbul and we expected to be strong. We are in a good position with both cars,' he said.

Alonso said he was happy to have rescued third place after he needed a new set of tyres following a spin in his first flying lap of the final qualifying session.

'I had only one opportunity with the tyres and everything went smoothly in the lap,' he said.

'We all knew that Spa is a little bit more like Turkey and we saw that Ferrari were very strong there.

'We expect them to be strong and fight for the win tomorrow. We have made some improvements since Turkey. I don't know if we can fight for the victory but it won't be as easy for them as it was in Turkey, I hope.'

Kubica's team-mate Nick Heidfeld, Mark Webber (Red Bull), Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) completed the top 10.