BUDAPEST, (Reuters) – Fernando Alonso gave Renault their first pole position since 2006 yesterday after a Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying session overshadowed by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa suffering a heavy crash.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel will join the double world champion, whose last pole was in Italy in September 2007 with McLaren, on the front row with Australian team mate Mark Webber starting third.
Brawn GP’s championship leader Jenson Button, who leads Vettel by 21 points with seven races remaining after Hungary, qualified eighth — his lowest start of the season so far.
“It would be nice to start on pole at any place but here is a special circuit for me anyway. I had my first win here in 2003,” said Alonso, whose car was significantly lighter on fuel than the rest of the field.
“We made a step forward and the car improved in the last two races and we are now a little bit more competitive, maybe not as quick as these two guys but we hope to score some good points tomorrow.”
The session was suspended at the end of the second phase when Brazilian Massa ploughed into the tyre barrier at turn four after being hit on the head by debris from compatriot Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn.
He was extracted from the car, taken to the circuit medical centre and then flown to hospital in nearby Budapest for surgery.
Champions Ferrari said in a statement that the 2008 runner-up had suffered a cut forehead, damage to his skull and concussion. They said the operation had gone well and Massa remained under observation in intensive care.
The accident had an impact on Button, with the Briton forced to sit out much of the final phase of qualifying in the pits while his team changed the parts on his car that had failed on Barrichello’s.
“It obviously took quite a while so we only got out for the last run in qualifying,” said Button.
“I think with a good hot day we can have a good result…our race pace is very good,” he added.
Blank Screens
There was confusion at the end of qualifying with the timing screens going blank and leaving teams and drivers, as well as spectators, in the dark about who had taken pole position.
“It was fairly difficult for us, a disaster,” said McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh. “At the most exciting part of the race weekend, to be denied the information you require is an absolute disaster.”
McLaren’s world champion Lewis Hamilton, who has started the last two Hungarian races on pole, qualified fourth after his team had dominated practice.
Having the only car in the first two rows equipped with the KERS energy recovery system could give him a big boost at the start.
“I think the biggest challenge no matter if you are first, second or third will be the threat from behind with the cars equipped with KERS. That is big, as it is quite a run down to turn one,” said Vettel.
Spain’s Jaime Alguersuari, 19 years old, became the youngest driver ever to qualify for a Formula One Grand Prix.
The Toro Rosso new boy will start at the back of the grid however after pulling over with a mechanical problem at the end of the first qualifying session.
Car weights showed that Alonso will start with the lightest, on the grid at 637.5kg compared to Vettel’s 655.0 and Webber’s 652.0. Hamilton weighed in at 650.5 and Button 664.5.
