According to FIA, Alonso impeded Hamilton in the pits, causing the championship leader to miss out on a final qualifying lap.

For an unknown reason, Alonso was held after changing onto fresh tyres for one last flying lap, leaving Hamilton queuing directly behind him and unable to set one final quick time of his own.

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 FIA called both drivers and McLaren team principal Ron Dennis to explain the incident.

During the FIA’s investigation, McLaren-Mercedes claimed that they held Alonso in the pits for twenty seconds with Hamilton waiting behind because of the traffic on the circuit.

McLaren explained that they held Alonso in the pits for twenty seconds with Hamilton waiting behind because they were waiting for Alonso to have an opportunity of a traffic-free lap.

But FIA stewards dismissed the explanation and McLaren-Mercedes won’t receive any constructors’ points.  

"The actions of the team in the final minutes of qualifying are deemed prejudicial to the interests of the competition and to the interests of motor sport generally," said FIA in a statement.

"The stewards find that he (Alonso) unnecessarily impeded another driver, Hamilton, and as a result he will be penalised by a loss of five grid positions," added the statement.

This means that BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld now starts from second on the grid with Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari third. Nico Rosberg in a Williams now starts in fourth, while Toyota's Ralf Schumacher moves up to fifth on the grid.

Robert Kubica in the second BMW, Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli of Toyota and Red Bull's Mark Webber complete the top 10.

Tough earlier Saturday Dennis defended Alonso by saying he was held back by team engineers because of Hamilton upsetting a pre-arranged strategy. "It's extremely difficult to deal with two such competitive drivers," said Dennis. "There are definite pressures within the team. We make no secret of it. They are both very competitive, and they both want to win, and we are trying our very hardest to balance those pressures."

Hamilton is leading the drivers’ championship with 70 points, while Alonso is two points behind him.