BUDAPEST, Aug 5: McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen snatched pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday after penalty-hit title contenders Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher failed to make the top 10.

Raikkonen, last year's winner in Hungary, seized his second pole in a row in the final seconds to dash Brazilian Felipe Massa's hopes of starting at the front for the first time in his Ferrari.

It was his 10th pole position in his 100th race.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was third for Honda and Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa fourth in a McLaren.

Renault's world champion Alonso and Ferrari's Schumacher failed to make the final cut after both went into the knockout qualifying with two second penalties to be added to their fastest laps.

Ferrari's seven-times champion Schumacher will start 11th, because Honda's Jenson Button who clocked the fourth best time picked up a 10 place penalty for an engine change in final practice.

Spaniard Alonso, who took his first win in Hungary in 2003, lines up behind in 15th place at a circuit where overtaking is a real challenge and where four of the last five winners have started on pole.

Alonso leads the resurgent Schumacher, who has won the last three grands prix, by 11 points with six races remaining including Sunday.

Schumacher was penalised for overtaking two cars under a red flag in Saturday's final free practice while Alonso picked up his sanction for dangerous driving and ignoring a yellow flag on Friday.

Without the penalties, both would have been challenging for pole in the final session.

Renault and Ferrari have between them won all the races this year but qualifying opened up the real possibility of a change on Sunday.

Poland's Robert Kubica, replacing Canadian Jacques Villeneuve at BMW Sauber, made a strong debut as his country's first Formula One racer with ninth place and ahead of German team mate Nick Heidfeld.

Starting grid:

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren; 2. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari; 3. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda; 4. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) McLaren; 5. Mark Webber (Australia) Williams-Cosworth; 6. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota; 7. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault; 8. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota; 9. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber; 10. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber; 11. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari; 12. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull-Ferrari; 13. Christian Klien (Austria) RedBull-Ferrari; 14. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda; 15. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault; 16. Tiago Monteiro (Portugal) MF1-Toyota; 17. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso-Cosworth; 18. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams-Cosworth; 19. Scott Speed (US) Toro Rosso-Cosworth; 20. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda; 21. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) Super Aguri-Honda; 22. Christijan Albers (Netherlands) MF1-Toyota.—Reuters