Controversial pole for Alonso

Fernando Alonso stole a controversial pole position from Lewis Hamilton at the Hungaroring this afternoon after he appeared to block his McLaren team-mate from completing a final flying lap. This allowed the Spaniard to take pole ahead of his team mate and Nick Heidfeld in third.


Under sunny skies and hot conditions the first qualifying session got underway. Lewis Hamilton set the early pace with a 1m19.570s to finish clear of the rest of the field while Button, Barrichello, Sato, Vettel, Sutil and Yamamoto all dropped out. In the second session Massa suffered a technical problem as he tried to leave the pits and his Ferrari just ground to a halt. Mechanics sprinted down to the stricken car and quickly hauled it back to the garage. The team got the Brazilian back out on track with just three minutes remaining, but something still wasn't right and he could only manage a lowly fourteenth, dropping out with Coulthard, Kovalainen, Wurz, Davidson and Liuzzi. Lewis Hamilton set the early pace in the final pole shoot-out on a 1m19.781s lap but there was quite some drama to come. For the final run, Alonso came in ahead of Hamilton - the British driver waiting behind him. The mechanics lifted Alonso's lollipop, but the reigning champion did not respond. He stood his ground in the pits, holding Hamilton up for several seconds while the McLaren pit wall waved furiously at him. The net effect was Hamilton could not get out in time to complete another flying lap while Alonso went through to take pole by just over 0.1s. McLaren boss Ron Dennis was furious at the end of the session, collaring Alonso's personal trainer and marching him back to the team's motorhome. With the fallout to await, Alonso took pole ahead of Hamilton and Heidfeld in third. Kimi Raikkonen couldn't manage better than fourth for Ferrari while Nico Rosberg was a strong fifth for Williams. Ralf Schumacher took sixth ahead of Kubica, Fisichella, Trulli and Webber.

Result:

1. F. Alonso McLaren 1:19.674

2. L. Hamilton McLaren 1:19.781

3. N. Heidfeld BMW 1:20.259

4. K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:20.410

5. N. Rosberg Williams 1:20.632

6. R. Schumacher Toyota 1:20.714

7. R. Kubica BMW 1:20.876

8. G. Fisichella Renault 1:21.079

9. J. Trulli Toyota 1:21.206

10. M. Webber Red Bull 1:21.256

11. D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:20.718

12. H. Kovalainen Renault 1:20.779

13. A. Wurz Williams 1:20.865

14. F. Massa Ferrari 1:21.021

15. A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:21.127

16. V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.993

17. J. Button Honda 1:21.737

18. R. Barrichello Honda 1:21.877

19. T. Sato Super Aguri 1:22.143

20. S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:22.177

21. A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:22.737

22. S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:23.774

Free Practice III

Felipe Massa finished the last practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix as the quickest driver for Ferrari with a 1:20.183s. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren were around two tenths behind in second and third. Nick Heidfeld muscled out the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen to come fourth fastest.



Nico Rosberg of Williams was sixth ahead of the Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher. Red Bull's Mark Webber and Alex Wurz completed the top ten in the warm and dry conditions. The first half was mostly uneventful with several drivers still struggling to find the optimum set-up on the slippery track - Adrian Sutil, Jarno Trulli and Heidfeld all having off moments as Kubica complained of tyre graining again over the radio, saying there was "no grip". Hamilton was fastest with a high 1:20 but only just to Raikkonen and Alonso, who still needed to find a tenth of a second to match the young Brit. The Finn duly did and went top by a mere 0.023s. With 20 minutes remaining the McLaren drivers showed that the track conditions were improving - Alonso with a 1:20.414s and Hamilton with a 1:20.576s. The anonymous Massa took this on board to carve out a low 1:20 and clear the McLaren pair. The Toyotas were beating the BMW Saubers to best of the rest with Schumacher and Trulli anchored around the 1:21 mark in fifth and sixth - Kubica was particularly struggling with grip still and down in 13th. Sakon Yamamoto deserves mentioning at this point for having set a very respectable 1:24.062s and was just two tenths slower than Adrian Sutil after the same amount of laps. The last five minutes however prompted a mass exodus. Heidfeld jumped ahead of Raikkonen for fourth but Kubica seemed to be struggling to get into the 1:20s unlike most of the top ten.

Result:

1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:20.183

2. Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:20.414 +0.231

3. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:20.461 +0.278

4. Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:20.565 +0.382

5. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:20.741 +0.558

6. Nico Rosberg Williams 1:20.868 +0.685

7. Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:20.878 +0.695

8. Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:20.933 +0.750

9. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:21.220 +1.037

10. Alexander Wurz Williams 1:21.323 +1.140

11. Anthony Davidson Super Aguri 1:21.501 +1.318

12. Robert Kubica BMW 1:21.652 +1.469

13. Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:21.666 +1.483

14. David Coulthard Red Bull 1:21.752 +1.569

15. Takuma Sato Super Aguri 1:21.839 +1.656

16. Vitantonio Liuzzi STR 1:21.909 +1.726

17. Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:22.131 +1.948

18. Jenson Button Honda 1:22.202 +2.019

19. Sebastian Vettel STR 1:22.394 +2.211

20. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:22.596 +2.413

21. Adrian Sutil Spyker 1:23.560 +3.377

22. Sakon Yamamoto Spyker 1:24.062 +3.879

Free Practice II

Alonso went fastest in the second Friday practice session in Budapest this afternoon with a best of 1:20.919s. The Spaniard was over three tenths of a second quicker than surprise second-fastest Heikki Kovalainen in the Renault. Lewis Hamilton was third and over four tenths adrift of his McLaren team-mate's time.

Free Practice II Result:

1. Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:20.919

2. Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:21.283 +0.364

3. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:21.338 +0.419

4. Nico Rosberg Williams 1:21.485 +0.566

5. Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:21.517 +0.598

6. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:21.589 +0.670

7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:21.620 +0.701

8. Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:21.698 +0.779

9. Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:21.857 +0.938

10. Robert Kubica BMW 1:21.906 +0.987

11. Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:21.912 +0.993

12. Alexander Wurz Williams 1:21.987 +1.068

13. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:22.325 +1.406

14. David Coulthard Red Bull 1:22.483 +1.564

15. Anthony Davidson Super Aguri 1:22.510 +1.591

16. Jenson Button Honda 1:22.550 +1.631

17. Takuma Sato Super Aguri 1:22.556 +1.637

18. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:22.727 +1.808

19. Vitantonio Liuzzi STR 1:23.136 +2.217

20. Sebastian Vettel STR 1:23.148 +2.229

21. Adrian Sutil Spyker 1:23.673 +2.754

22. Sakon Yamamoto Spyker 1:26.307 +5.388

Free Practice I

Robert Kubica topped first practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of Felipe Massa in the dry and sunny conditions. The Pole set a fastest time of 1:22.390s, 0.129s faster than the Ferrari driver. However, the times were very close with Lewis Hamilton just 0.264s slower in fifth. Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso were third and fourth respectively.


Free Practice I Result:

1. Robert Kubica BMW 1:22.390

2. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:22.519 +0.129

3. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:22.540 +0.150

4. Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:22.585 +0.195

5. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:22.654 +0.264

6. Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:22.891 +0.501

7. Nico Rosberg Williams 1:22.983 +0.593

8. Jenson Button Honda 1:23.294 +0.904

9. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:23.601 +1.211

10. Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:23.802 +1.412

11. Davidson Super Aguri 1:24.102 +1.712

12. Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:24.318 +1.928

13. Alexander Wurz Williams 1:24.321 +1.931

14. David Coulthard Red Bull 1:24.474 +2.084

15. Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:24.733 +2.343

16. Sebastian Vettel STR 1:24.905 +2.515

17. Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:24.920 +2.530

18. Vitantonio Liuzzi STR 1:24.976 +2.586

19. Takuma Sato Super Aguri 1:25.307 +2.917

20. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:25.584 +3.194

21. Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:26.332 +3.942

22. Sakon Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari 1:28.118 +5.728

Hamilton's qualifying accident explained

A failure on the wheelgun, or at least the wrong pneumatic air pressure applied to it, was at the root of Lewis Hamilton's qualifying accident at the Nurburgring. To summarise, the fault meant it was not possible for the mechanic changing the right-front wheel to completely fasten the wheel nut (1), although it did allow the safety pin (2) to be pulled into its required position, preventing the wheel nut loosening completely and hence the wheel falling off. The result of the fault was a small gap (5 - in yellow) between the central mounting of the wheel (3) and the brake disc holder (4). This allowed the wheel an abnormal degree of freedom in relation to the aforementioned assembly and the inner edge of the rim started touching and scratching against the edge of the carbon fibre brake drum (6), damaging the rim (7) and causing the sudden deflation of the tyre.

Toro Rosso blames Speed's pace for dismissal

Toro Rosso directors Gerhard Berger and Franz Tost claimed it was because of Scott Speed's performance that he was replaced by Sebastian Vettel. The Nurburgring bust-up between Tost and Speed at the last Grand Prix seemed like the most likely reason but this has been played down.

Tost even says that the decision had already been made before the much-publicised incident He told reporters: "It has nothing to do with what happened at the Nurburgring. It was done before because we were simply not happy with his performance."Berger added: "I don't want to spend any more time talking about Scott Speed. That's history. He didn't perform and that's why he isn't here anymore. Okay, we have difficult circumstances, but overall we are happy with what we are doing. We are trying to do our best."Recently, we didn't have a good atmosphere here, you know? And I'm not saying it's Scott's fault or our fault. It just didn't work out - and the only solution was to stop it."With Speed now replaced at Toro Rosso, speculation is mounting that Vitantonio Liuzzi, who was also like Speed previouslytold by Toro Rosso to improve, might also be shown the door to make way for part-time tester and three-time Champ Car world champion Sebastian Bourdais. The deadline for a deal with the triple Champ Car world champion was set for the end of July but Berger remained tight-lipped.When asked whether he would race for the team next year Berger said: "Nothing to say at this stage. We have been concentrating on Vettel."The co-owner of Toro Rosso claimed that Liuzzi still had the chance to prove himself.He added: "Scott is always going on about pressure - but this is F1 and everybody's under pressure. This is a competitive business and you either deliver or you don't - and that's not comfortable. And Tonio also has to deliver - but he still has chances to deliver. I really hope for him that he works well with Sebastian."

Raikkonen appears in gorilla suit

Kimi Raikkonen is one of those drivers who isn't afraid to enjoy a life outside Formula 1. The Finnish Ferrari driver participated in a motorboat race in his home country. Kimi and his friends appeared on a boat in gorilla outfits.
Many of the spectators knew Raikkonen would attend the event but they were unable to recognise him easily as the Finn and his mates arrived in gorilla outfits. Raikkonen said about the event: "True, last weekend there was a motorboat meeting at Hanko and me and two friends of mine participated as a team on a boat with a real captain and a real helmsman. What a pity that us three were dressed like gorillas, we even won the prize for the best costumes! I had lots of fun and I hope that it will be the same during the upcoming weekend in Hungary."

Singapore to host first F1 night race

The inaugural Singapore grand prix will indeed be the first everformula one race to be staged at night. Following the breakdown ofBernie Ecclestone's night race talks with Melbourne, the localnewspaper Today clarified that Singapore organisers are still keen toflood-light the 2008 event in September.The FIA did not confirm the news, but its provisional calendar fornext year lists the Singapore street course as 'subject to circuitapproval'. The Singapore GP's communications director JonathanHallett, meanwhile, said race organisers and corporate partners are"in full support of a night race", Today wrote.Melbourne promoters were worried that spectators would not attend anight race but Hallett said the idea "makes sense" for Singapore.Referring to Singapore's scorching tropical climate, he saidspectators "will find it more comfortable" .But he cautioned: "We will carry out a night race only if the FIA andFormula One Administration find that the safety of drivers andspectators is not compromised. "

Possible tyre rule changes ahead of 2008

Some formula one power brokers are pushing for a tweak to the tyreregulations for 2008, according to German reports. The specialistmagazine Auto Motor und Sport said on Monday that, to spice up theracing and strategy options, a more assorted selection of tyrecompounds could be offered by Bridgestone at each grand prix.Currently, the two compounds made available to teams at races arefairly similar -- for instance, this weekend in Hungary, each drivermust use both the 'soft' and the white-branded 'super soft' during theHungarian grand prix. But some team bosses are reportedly arguing thatvarying the tyre options available - for example, the 'super soft' andthe 'medium' in Hungary - would lead to a more mixed jumble of paceand a higher prospect of in-race passing.Auto Motor und Sport claims that the smaller teams are championing theidea, but that their more competitive rivals are not overly keen.Bridgestone is also thought to be resisting, as implementing theproposal properly for 2008 would probably involve tweaking itsexisting range of tyre compounds at some cost.

Hungaroring engine preview

With the longest period spent at full throttle barely exceeding ten seconds, and with only 57% of the lap spent at full throttle (significantly lower than the average), this is not a demanding circuit for the engine.


Of the 14 corners, five are taken in second gear at around 100 kph. Unlike at Monaco, where the cars reach abnormally slow speeds in the hairpins, the minimum speed at the Hungaroring is approximately 90kph. This means the engine spends the majority of its time in a relatively narrow operating window between 100 kph and 250 kph, and the closely-spaced gear ratios we use are selected to ensure optimum performance in this range.As always on a circuit featuring a large number of slow corners, good torque is important to help launch the cars out of the turns. The characteristics of the RS27 mean the engine is strong in this area.

McLaren hits back

After Ferrari announced it would appeal the World Motor Sport Council's decision not to punish McLaren in the spy drama, McLaren has fought back brandishing Ferrari's actions as a 'thoroughly misleading press campaign.'


A statement from McLaren explained, "Following a thoroughly misleading press campaign by Ferrari and pressure from the Automobile Club D'Italia, the FIA has asked the FIA International Court of Appeal to consider the unanimous decision made by the World Motor Sport Council on 26th July 2007. Having considered in great detail the full submissions of both Ferrari and McLaren, the World Motorsport Council determined that there was no evidence that any information, passed by a Ferrari team member to a McLaren employee, had been brought into the organisation or provided any benefit whatsoever to the McLaren programme."McLaren went on to say it expected to be cleared again of any wrong-doing."McLaren is not aware of any new information or arguments that have arisen since the meeting of the World Motor Sport Council and therefore assumes that these same materials will now be considered by the FIA International Court of Appeal," the statement added. "Whilst this is both disappointing and time-consuming, McLaren is confident that the FIA International Court of Appeal will also exonerate McLaren and we will in the meanwhile continue to focus on our current World Championship programme."

Ferrari still out for blood with appeal

Despite McLaren escaping any punishment from the World Motor Sport Council, Ferrari is still out for blood and has decided to take the case to the FIA's court of appeal.



Ferrari bosses met in Maranello on Tuesday to deliberate about the legal actions taken in the last weeks. A statement from the team confirmed:"The Board has ratified what happened until now, which is the action taken against Nigel Stepney over the fact of the powder found around the refuelling aperture on the F1 cars during the Monaco Grand Prix tests. The submission of another legal action against Stepney concerning the theft of technical information, the civil action presented to The High Court of London against Mike Coughlan, chief designer of McLaren Mercedes, and his wife, concerning the theft of the aforementioned documents.""The Board took note of the FIA World Council's decision of 26th of July and of today's decision from the FIA President, Max Mosley, to refer this matter to a hearing of the FIA Court of Appeal, where Ferrari, as the injured party of the incident, will be accorded all the rights to which they are entitled in a trial, which was not the case at the World Council meeting."

Vettel to replace Speed

Sebastian Vettel has joined the Scuderia Toro Rosso team with immediate effect both BMW Sauber F1 and Toro Rosso confirmed today. The 20-year-old German was BMW's test and reserve driver this season, but since he has been part of Red Bull's driver development programme Toro Rosso has taken the option to use Vettel as a replacement for Scott Speed.



The BMW Sauber F1 team today announced that it has released Sebastian Vettel to move to Scuderia Toro Rosso with immediate effect. The 20-year-old Vettel was BMW's test driver this season and replaced Robert Kubica at the US Grand Prix. At the US Grand Prix 20-year-old Vettel was the youngest driver in the history of Formula 1 to score a championship point. Speaking about BMW's decision to release Vettel for a racing seat at Toro Rosso BMW team boss Mario Theissen said: "As our test and reserve driver Sebastian has carried out sterling work for us. When he stood in for Robert Kubica in the USA Grand Prix he made history by becoming the youngest debutant to earn a world championship point. However, the current testing rules mean that he barely gets a chance to drive for us. Now he has been offered the opportunity to get inside a Toro Rosso cockpit. We have sponsored and coached Sebastian over a number of years. To place obstacles in his career path now would go against our concept of talent promotion." Theissen continues: "BMW and Red Bull have a longstanding partnership in supporting Sebastian. Toro Rosso is the sister team of Red Bull Racing, and in that context it makes sense for us to release him. In a sponsoring partnership the main thing is to use the best opportunities that present themselves to a young driver at any given time."

Honda hopes to score a point or two in Hungary

The Honda Formula 1 team has scored only one single point so far this season. After a strong season in 2006 the current season has been a massive disappointment so far. Both Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button are sometimes not even close to points. After a promising test at Jerez though Honda's senior technical director Shuhei Nakamoto hopes to team can score a point or two this weekend in Hungary.



Shuhei NakamotoLooking ahead of the upcoming test Nakamoto said: "At our test in Jerez this week we worked on our set-up for Hungary and conducted an evaluation of our aerodynamic updates for this race. I am pleased to say that we found a good baseline. The Hungaroring provides a mixture of high and low speed turns and so mechanical grip is very important. The extremely hot conditions provided a good opportunity to test the engine and again the result was positive with good reliability. We understand that next weekend will be very hot indeed and so Jerez was a good acclimatisation opportunity for the challenging air and track temperatures we will face there. We hope to be in a position to score a point or two."

Renault before Hungary

Giancarlo Fisichella heads to Hungary on the back of a dismal weekend at the Nurburgring in which he struggled in qualifying and left without any points in the race. However after last week's testing the Italian is feeling more confident about an upswing in form.


"We were all quite down on Sunday evening, but since then a lot of work has been done to understand where we went wrong, and to avoid repeating our mistakes," Fisichella said. "It is in the past now, we have learned what we could from the weekend, and we are now fully-focused on the race ahead. We need to carry on moving forward.""Hungary is quite a selective circuit, and the very high temperatures often make things a bit more complicated, especially for the drivers and also the powertrain," he warned. "To be quick here, you need an effective high downforce set-up, good grip and good traction out of the slow corners. We will be working on those areas as soon as we start running on Friday morning."

Alonso Expectations

After fighting to victory at the Nurburgring last weekend, Fernando Alonso is determined to notch up back-to-back wins with victory at the Hungaroring this weekend - the scene of his maiden F1 win.


"It was great to take the win in Germany and I hope to achieve the same result in Hungary," said Alonso. "I have some good memories from this track, as I took my first Formula 1 victory in Hungary; however last year was not so good! It was a challenging race, with the time penalty that meant I started in 15th, making it up to take the lead and then dropping out.""The MP4-22 has performed well at this type of track so far this season, so I am feeling positive for the race," he added.

Renault technology investment

Renault has announced a major $50 million technology investment programme at its Enstone base. The long-term programme will include investment in a brand-new Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) facility, which will provide the team with ten times its current capacity in this area and create an industry benchmark that will stand among the top 100 global computing facilities.


"This programme of technology investment in the team sends a strong signal about our commitment to a competitive future in Formula 1," said team boss Flavio Briatore. "Each investment will be carefully and efficiently managed in line with the sport's future regulations, to derive maximum benefit for the team, our partners and the wider group." Technical director, Bob Bell added, "We are delighted to announce the construction of the new Enstone CFD Centre. While other teams have invested in costly second wind tunnels, we believe that CFD is a technology of the future that will be integral to the design and development of more efficient vehicles. This new centre will allow us to push the existing technological boundaries, and to develop new techniques and skills that will have applications far beyond the race tracks of the future."