Alonso penalized for impeding Hamilton in qualifying

Aug 5, 2007, 0:11 GMT

Budapest - Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix after his McLaren-Mercedes teammate, Fernando Alonso, was moved five places down the grid by motorsport's ruling body FIA for impeding him in Saturday's qualifying session.

Alonso received the punishment for remaining in the pits with Hamilton behind him, causing the championship leader to miss out on a final qualifying lap. McLaren will also be unable to score constructors' points.

The defending world champion had registered a time of one minute, 19.674 seconds for the 4,384-kilometre Hungaroring circuit, 0.107 seconds faster than Hamilton, but both drivers and McLaren team principal Ron Dennis were called to an inquiry by FIA to explain the pitlane incident.

'The commissioners decided that Alonso unnecessarily interfered with another competitor, Hamilton, and he has been penalized five places on the grid,' said FIA in a statement.

'The attitude of the team at the end of qualification was considered prejudicial to the interests of competition and motor racing.'

FIA's decision means BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld now starts from second on the grid with Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari third. Raikkonen teammate Felipe Massa starts down the grid in 14th place after a technical problem saw the Brazilian eliminated in the second qualifying session.

Hamilton was visibly unhappy over the incident but refused to publicly blame his teammate in the post-qualifying press conference.

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

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

Nico Rosberg in a Williams now starts in fourth, while Toyota's Ralf Schumacher moves up to fifth on the grid.

Alonso drops to sixth, alongside Robert Kubica in the second BMW. Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli of Toyota and Red Bull's Mark Webber complete 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 points while Raikkonen has 52.