Raikkonen Targets Podium Finish

McLaren's Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso's closest title rival, was third fastest in qualifying but will start 13th as a penalty for an unscheduled engine change after a failure in Friday's practice.

Alonso, meanwhile, will start from pole position for the second consecutive year in Magny Cours.

Raikkonen won the Canadian Grand Prix from seventh on the starting grid but he faces a seemingly impossible task to prevent Alonso from stretching his 22 points lead in the Championship.

"It was not the best way to start the weekend yesterday, to blow up the engine," Raikkonen said. "It's going to cost us a lot this weekend.

"We just need to see where the others are stopping. I think we can hopefully get close to the podium, if not on the podium," added the Finn.

The engine that failed was a new specification one for Sunday's Grand Prix and McLaren replaced it with the previous version, which means the Finn will have to use it again at the British Grand Prix next week.

Raikkonen's teammate Juan Pablo Montoya will start from eighth position.