Raikkonen on pole for French Grand Prix

(CNN) -- Defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen claimed pole position for the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours with a lap of one minute 16.449 seconds.

Felipe Massa completed Ferrari's third one-two in qualifying this season by lapping the Circuit de Nevers 0.041 seconds slower than his team mate.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton qualified third in 1:16.693 but will drop 10 places on the grid after cauing accident at the preceding Canadian GP.

Fernando Alonso of Renault will start from third ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren.

Overall Formula One leader Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber struggled for pace and will start from sixth behind Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen.

Kubica's team-mate Nick Heidfeld nearly went out in qualifying one, before finishing 12th overall.

The pole was the 16th of Raikkonen's career and gives him a great chance of bouncing back in the drivers' championship in which he is currently fourth behind Kubica, Hamilton and Massa.

"The main thing is to be fastest ... and that worked out very well for us," said Raikkonen, who also won here last year.

"The car has been working very well all weekend."

Afternoon qualifying began with the temperature rising to 27 degrees Celsius in the air and 45 degrees on the track.

German Adrian Sutil and his Force India team-mate Italian Giancarlo Fisichella were soon eliminated and will be on the back row of the grid, behind the two Hondas of Briton Jenson Button and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.

Japanese Kazuki Nakajima of Williams followed and will start from 16th.

German Heidfeld and Brazilian Nelson Piquet, who was fastest for Renault in the morning's final practice session, were also unable to progress to the top-ten shootout.

In the final session Trulli's Toyota spun at the hairpin and Hamilton went off the circuit and across the trackside dirt, but both managed to resume.