Felipe Massa could not resist a smile after finally outqualifying Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso.
Brazilian outqualifies team-mate for the first time in 16 races
Felipe Massa could not resist a wry smile after outqualifying Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso for the first time in 16 races on Saturday.
The Brazilian will lines up ahead of the Spanish double world champion in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, with the pair starting fourth and fifth respectively.
They were separated by just 0.015 seconds at the Hungaroring, with Massa lapping faster than Alonso for the first time since last year's Belgian Grand Prix.
It is not what Ferrari were expecting, after Alonso had topped the timesheet at the end of the first two qualifying sessions.
With Sebastian Vettel claiming his eighth pole in 11 races this season, McLaren also rubbed salt into Ferrari's wounds as Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button set the second and third fastest times respectively.
For Massa, though, the monkey is finally off his back as he said: "What does it mean to me to be ahead of my team-mate for the first time this year? I am pleased.
"But what counts is being ahead of everyone, and I hope we soon get some qualifying sessions where we are the best.
"Here McLaren and Red Bull are very strong and will be so tomorrow.
"My only complaint is starting from the dirty side of the track. I know how penalising it can be here."
Open race
Alonso readily admitted to "failing to do the perfect lap", although was happy to acknowledge Massa's achievement.
"Third place was within our grasp, and it would have been a great place from which to start the race," said Alonso.
"But others did better than us, including my team-mate who drove a nice lap.
"All the same, better fifth than fourth as it means at least I start from the clean side of the track.
"It just seems that when it's time for Q3, Red Bull has a magic button that suddenly makes them go faster.
"But then it seems the button switches off in the race."
Alonso still believes he has a shot at a podium finish, however.
"We will need to maintain a good pace, doing a perfect job at the pit stops, of which I think there will be a lot, maybe three or four, because tyre degradation is significant," he added.
"It will also be important to get the timing of the stops right. I reckon anything could still happen and it will be a very open race."
