After examining yesterday’s incident in qualifying session,
FIA decided that Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position in Sunday's
Hungarian Grand Prix, while Fernando Alonso was penalized and moved five placed
down the grid.
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.