Alonso grabs pole for Hungarian Grand Prix

Aug 4, 2007, 13:35 GMT

Budapest - Fernando Alonso in a McLaren-Mercedes claimed pole position Saturday for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton into second place after the Briton was unable to complete a final flying lap.

BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld qualified in third spot with Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari fourth.

Alonso registered a time of one minute 19.674 seconds for the 4.384-kilometre Hungaroring circuit but the talking point of the session was why he remained in the pits with Hamilton behind him, causing the championship leader to miss out on a final lap.

Hamilton was visibly unhappy over the incident but refused to publicly blame his team-mate.

'There's not really very much to say. You saw what happened,' said the 22-year-old at the post-qualifying press conference.

Asked how much time he missed out on a final lap, Hamilton replied curtly: 'about the same amount of time as I was held up in the pitstop.'

It was also a disappointing session for the two Ferraris with Raikkonen being out-qualified by Heidfeld while Felipe Massa will start down the grid in 14th place after technical problems saw the Brazilian eliminated in the second qualifying session.

Nico Rosberg in a Williams qualified in fifth while Toyota's Ralf Schumacher will start from sixth on the grid.

Robert Kubica in the second BMW starts from seventh alongside Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella with Jarno Trulli of Toyota and Red Bull's Mark Webber completing the top 10.

Hamilton leads the standings ahead of the 11th race of the 17-race season with 70 points, two more than Alonso. Massa is third on 59, while Raikkonen has 52.