Alonso had been fourth in the morning session


World champion Fernando Alonso claimed pole position for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix after a controversial qualifying session on Saturday.

Lewis Hamilton was pushed into second after seemingly being delayed by his team-mate in the pit lane, meaning he was too late for his final lap.

Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) took third place with Finn Kimi Raikkonen fourth.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa failed to make the cut for the top 10 after a costly mix-up on his fuel levels.

Brazilian Massa, third in the championship and 11 points adrift of Hamilton, will start 14th.

Hamilton, who leads Spaniard Alonso by two points with seven races remaining, completed an all-McLaren front row at a circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult.

The 22-year-old British rookie was fastest until the Spaniard pipped him by 0.107 seconds with his final lap of the session in the dying seconds.

Hamilton was unable to reply after being forced to wait behind Alonso at their final stop, leaving him too little time for a final flying lap.

Afterwards, Hamilton refused to be drawn in to criticising Alonso for delaying his exit out of the pit lane ahead of his final run.

"There's not really much to say - you saw what happened," he said.

"The team did a great job and we had very good pace, but I'm not aware of what happened. You should ask the team."

When asked as to how long he missed out on setting a final quick lap, he tersely replied: "About the same amount of time I was held up in the pit stop."

Explaining his hold, Alonso said: "The team held me back in this. We tried to have some space with the Ferrari (Raikkonen) in front of us."

But team boss Ron Dennis said: "It is a matter to be discussed within the team, and we will do so later."

Briton Jenson Button, who took a first Grand Prix win from 14th place in a wet race in Hungary last year, qualified his Honda a disappointing 17th.

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Results from qualifying, Hungarian Grand Prix

1. Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1min 19.674secs
2. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:19.781
3. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:20.259
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:20.410
5. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams - Toyota 1:20.632
6. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:20.714
7. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:20.876
8. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:21.079
9. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:21.206
10. Mark Webber (Aust) RedBull- Renault 1:21.256
11. David Coulthard (GB) RedBull-Renault 1:20.718
12. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:20.779
13. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams-Toyota 1:20.865
14. Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:21.021
15. Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 1:21.127
16. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:21.993
17. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:21.737
18. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 1:21.877
19. Takuma Sato (Jap) Super Aguri - Honda 1:22.143
20. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:22.177
21. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker - Ferrari 1:22.737
22. Sakon Yamamoto (Jap) Spyker - Ferrari 1:23.774


credit: bbc sport



i didn't see what happened in the pit-lane, but if hamilton was intentionally held up i would like to know who made the decision as i think it is wrong to possibly damage your own driver's chance of getting pole position