Fernando Alonso returned to the top of F1 today as he blazed his way past his rivals to pole in the tricky Hungaroring Circuit. Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix came to a confusing conclusion this afternoon as the front-runners climbed from their race cars only to ask each other who actually had the pole position courtesy of a complete timing system failure at the circuit. Fernando Alonso however had done the job and the Renault star claimed what is arguably the most important pole position of the season on the day that saw Felipe Massa airlifted to hospital after being struck on the crash helmet by debris.
The final ten minute pole position shoot-out was largely overshadowed by the accident suffered by Massa who had made it into the final round of qualifying based on his time. However the Brazilian suffered a heavy off late in the second round of qualifying after being struck by suspension debris seemingly dropped from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn Mercedes.
Massa was on his final hot lap of the second session when he was struck by the component on the left hand side of his crash helmet. Massa was able to apply the brakes, so was not knocked out by the impact, but the F60 continued on at high speed and nosed heavily into the tyre barriers on the outside of turn four. Massa was removed from the Ferrari and later airlifted to hospital for what seems to be purely precautionary measures although we await official confirmation of this fact from the Italian team.
Qualifying resumed after a lengthy delay with Alonso claiming the pole position in his Renault, his first since his time at McLaren in 2007, from the Red Bull Renault duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Red Bull has been strong all weekend and are chasing their third straight Grand Prix success as they look to further close down the advantage held by rivals Brawn Mercedes. However, with passing all but impossible at this circuit, the fastest three will be keeping a keen eye on their mirrors for the top KERS-equipped runner as the lights go green tomorrow afternoon.
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