Hungarian GP Qualifying round-up

August 3, 2008 by Dominic Alder

Lewis Hamilton’s F1 world championship campaign has gathered further momentum as he qualified on pole for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

McLaren secured both front-row positions with Heikki Kovalainen starting second and are in a strong position for tomorrow’s race.

Hamilton used the harder Bridgestone compound in the in the searing seat of the dusty Hungaroring circuit to good effect. Ferrari could not match the pace of McLaren, leaving Massa and Raikkonen in third and sixth respectively. Kubica hinted that his mid-season slump may be over with a strong fourth place. Toyota once again had a good session, with Timo Glock out-qualifying Jarno Trulli. They will start fifth and ninth. Alonso will start behind Raikkonen in seventh.

The spoilt-brat events of McLaren’s 2007 Hungaroring weekend were still fresh in the mind of the F1 circus. Alonso was demoted from pole to sixth place on the grid last year after he was deemed to have held Hamilton up in the pits during qualifying. During the same weekend, Alonso allegedly tried to force Ron Dennis to give him number one status within the team with email evidence that proved that he and Pedro de la Rosa were aware that McLaren were spying on Ferrari.

Dennis, told BBC Sport today “There was a lot of activity here last year, all of it unpleasant … They can fight here as long as they emerge from the first corner in first and second and don’t get egg on their faces.”

And what of Alonso in 2008? No wins, or podiums. Rumours gather pace of him joining Ferrari in 2010. How much have McLaren missed his input this year? Kovalainen has been picked up by McLaren for next year, but will need to improve dramatically if he is going to challenge Hamilton consistently. McLaren will not win this year’s constructor’s title on Hamilton’s points alone…

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