Raikkonen in French GP pole - Hamilton and Kubica suffer

Jun 21, 2008, 14:46 GMT

Finnish Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari steers his car through a curve during the third practise session at the Magny Cours race track near Nevers in France, on 21 June 2008. The French Grand Prix will be held on 22 June 2008. EPA/Guillaume Horcajuelo

Magny-Cours, France - World champion Kimi Raikkonen on Saturday claimed the pole position for the French Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa while Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica were left to lick their wounds.

The second pole of the Formula One season was the perfect start into the race weekend for Raikkonen, who won the race in 2007 and hopes for a similar result this time around after failing to finish in the past two races this season.

'Tomorrow is the day we need to finish. I am looking forward to the race and hope for a good result,' said Raikkonen.

The latest mishap was two weeks ago in Canada when Hamilton slammed his McLaren-Mercedes into Raikkonen's Ferrari in a bizarre pit lane accident for which the Briton was docked 10 places on the Magny-Cours grid.

Hamilton had the third time on Saturday but will have to start from 13th place.

Kubica, who got a historic win in Canada for himself and his BMW team, managed no better than seventh on Saturday. Teammate Nick Heidfeld didn't even make the final round of qualifying, stranded in 12th place on Saturday.

'Our package isn't perfect here. It is a disappointing result, we saw that we don't have strength here,' admitted BMW motorsport chief Mario Theissen.

Hamilton was also downcast because he failed to get through the lap without mistakes and has to life with the FIA punishment.

'It was quite a disappointing qualifying for me. I didn't do a great job at all,' said Hamilton, who will need a miracle Sunday to get a good result.

'The penalty doesn't help. Rules are rules. We will do the best job we can.'

Ferrari, by contrast were happy, after Raikkonen clocked 1 minute 16.449 seconds for the 4.411-kilometres lap, with Massa on 1:16.490 to lead the rest of the pack by more than two tenth of a second - a big margin in the fast sport.

Ferrari are traditionally strong in Magny-Cours with five wins in the last seven races there. McLaren, by contrast, have not won the race in eight years.

'The front row is good, I am looking forward to the race,' said Massa, who like Raikkonen and Hamilton has two season wins.

Raikkonen said that he could have been even faster in qualifying but that the team waved him into the pits on a blistering final lap after all rivals had failed to kick him from the pole position.

'We have had a good speed all weekend,' said Raikkonen.

The race result Sunday could shake up the dramatic title race again. Kubica leads the way with 42 points from seven races ahead of Massa, Hamilton (38 each) and Raikkonen (35).