Hungary is Kimi's best chance yet

Budapest: For the first time this season, McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen believes he has a real chance of winning a race.

The Finn qualified on pole position for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, at a slow and twisty circuit where overtaking is rare, and spoke optimistically of celebrating his 100th Formula One race with a victory.

"It's the first time this year that we are in a position where we really think that we can win the race," said the 26-year-old, who won in Hungary last year.

Raikkonen also qualified on pole at the last German Grand Prix but, because of a fuelling error in qualifying, he was far lighter than his rivals and was the first to make a pitstop, eventually finishing third.

McLaren have not won since Raikkonen's thrilling victory in Japan last October, with champions Renault and Ferrari dominating the current season.

However Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso qualified outside the top 10 after collecting time penalties for practice infringements.

Raikkonen's biggest rival will be Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa, alongside him on the front row, who has yet to win a grand prix.

"I think the car has been very good and for sure this pole is much better (than Hockenheim) because we didn't have any refuelling problems so it definitely feels better than last weekend," said the Finn.

"I think we have very good race tyres and car so I'm really looking forward to the race."

The Hungaroring is often likened to Monaco's street circuit, in character if not surroundings, and Raikkonen went strongly in the Mediterranean principality earlier in the year.

Hungary has also long been considered by Formula One's Finns to be their closest thing to a home circuit.

"We were expecting that the car might be good here," said Raikkonen. "It was good in Monaco and this is as close to Monaco as you can get."