Raikkonen: I could have gone quicker

The Finn, winner of the Magny-Cours race last year, set a best time of 1:16.449 to just edge Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa to his first pole since the Spanish Grand Prix.

It was his 16th pole and Ferrari's 200th.

Raikkonen finished over two tenths of a second ahead of third-placed Lewis Hamilton, and the world champion claimed he had more speed in store, but the Finn decided not to complete the final run in order to save fuel as pole was already his.

"I had quite a bit faster lap on the lap I came in, but the team told me to box it because I was fastest anyhow, there was no point to waste a lap of fuel," said Raikkonen, who has not scored a point in the last two races.

"That last lap I was at least two tenths faster so just at the last moment I turned in when I was at the last chicane, when the team told me to box.

"We had good speed all weekend the car has been working well and it has been a great weekend so far but tomorrow we have to finish and hopefully we can win because we need some points."

He added: "The car is so much different when you have no fuel. We have been working all week with a normal fuel load, so it is not always exactly what you want, but the main thing is to be faster than them so it worked out very well for us.

"The team told me to box it because I was fastest anyhow, no point to waste a lap of fuel. That last lap I was two tenths faster but the team told me to pit."

Raikkonen, seven points behind championship leader Robert Kubica, said he was feeling more comfortable with the harder tyres.

"I don't think there is much in it on one lap the soft and hard tyre but over the race I think the harder is definitely the way to go and for us it has been working pretty well both tyres."