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Chaos as Hamilton gets pole

Late drama as Hamilton is awarded pole

By Adam Norman Last updated: 5th August 2007

Hamilton finds himself blocked

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Fernando Alonso was dramatically demoted to sixth place on the starting grid for the Hungarian Grand Prix late on Saturday night following an investigation into the controversial dying moments of qualifying.

The Spaniard pipped Mercedes McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pole position on his final qualification lap, but not before he had remained stationary in the pits for several seconds - denying the Brit another chance to take to the Hungaroring circuit.

Race stewards immediately called an inquiry into the incident, and, despite earlier confirming the grid positions, not only demoted the driver but ruled that McLaren would not pick up any points towards the constructors championship regardless of the race result.

Alonso's punishment cannot be reversed but McLaren have already made it known that they plan to appeal against their constructors points penalty.

The fiasco is precisely what Formula One didn't want following two weeks of wrangling between the Ferrari and McLaren teams over alleged spying.

Statement

"The actions of the team in the final minutes of qualifying are considered prejudicial to the interests of the competition and to the interests of motor sport generally," the stewards said in a statement.

"Because of the delay caused by Alonso, Hamilton was unable to complete his pit stop in time sufficient to enable him also to complete a flying lap.

"The stewards find that he unneccessarily impeded another driver, Hamilton, and as a result he will be penalised by a loss of five grid positions."

The BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld had originally pipped Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari to third place but will now start alongside Hamilton on the front of the grid.

Raikkonen will be joined by Nico Rosberg's Williams on the second row, while the other driver to benefit is Ralf Schumacher, whose Toyota will start alongside the besmirched Alonso.

Massa out early

But Raikkonen's team-mate Felipe Massa, who was fastest during morning practice, failed to progress to the final session of qualifying.

The Brazilian, currently lying third in the championship, appeared to struggle with the handling of his car and got crossed up in the final corner during Q2.

Already outside the top 10, Massa then halted in the pitlane and, after Ferrari mechanics pushed him back to the pits, he rejoined - but failed to improve on 14th quickest.

Massa later revealed that he had stopped because the team had failed to add fuel to his car when they changed its tyres.

Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella had qualified eighth but, after another ruling by race stewards, the Italian has been demoted five places to 13th.

In the opening qualifying session, Fisichella was adjudged to have blocked the Spyker of Sakon Yamamoto.

Therefore, Toyota's Jarno Trulli starts eighth, with Red Bull's Mark Webber and David Coulthard completing the top 10.

Hamilton had set the quickest laps, respectively a 1:19.570s and a 1:19.301s, in the opening two sessions - the second effort some three tenths quicker than Alonso on low fuel.

Alongside Massa, Heikki Kovalainen - who pushed his Renault into second place in Friday practice - also failed to progress beyond Q2, along with Coulthard, Alex Wurz, Anthony Davidson and Vitantonio Liuzzi.

And there was more disappointment for 2006 Hungarian GP winner Jenson Button, who was edged out in Q1 by Liuzzi's Toro Rosso.

Button was joined in the Q1 drop zone by Honda team-mate Rubens Barrichello, Super Aguri's Takuma Sato, Toro Rosso newcomer Sebastian Vettel and the Spyker pairing of Adrian Sutil and Yamamoto.

Amended grid positions:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:19.781secs

2. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:20.259

3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:20.410

4. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 1:20.632

5. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 1:20.714

6. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 1:19.674 (demoted)

7. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:20.876

8. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:21.206

9. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1:21.256

10. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Renault 1:20.718

11. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault 1:20.779