Alonso stripped of the Hungarian Pole!!!

**Monseratto** · August 5th, 2007 08:32 AM

tsk...tsk..tsk. No constructor's point even if they win... :-P :-P

Lewis Hamilton will replace Fernando Alonso on pole position for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix after a stewards' investigation into a qualifying incident between the McLaren teammates.

McLaren have also been pre-emptively stripped of any constructors championship points they might earn from the race.

FIA officials were moved to investigate the chain of events which saw Alonso claim pole position after waiting in front of Hamilton in the pits for 30 seconds ahead of the pair's final qualifying runs.

The delay meant that when Hamilton returned to the track he did not have enough time to respond to Alonso's final quick lap.

After a marathon deliberation, the FIA stewards found Alonso and McLaren guilty of acting improperly in holding up Hamilton.

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.

Mindful of the fact that there was only one car on the track at the time in question the FIA stewards dismissed the explanation.

"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 the stewards in a statement addressed to McLaren boss Ron Dennis.

Also swept aside was Alonso's feeble excuse that he waited in front of Hamilton for a further ten seconds because he was checking whether the correct tyres had been fitted to his car.

"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.

Alonso's punishment cannot be reversed but McLaren have made it known that they plan to appeal against their constructors points penalty. They have until Tuesday to state their case.

Championship leader Hamilton will now be joined on the front row of the grid by BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen moving up to third place. Nico Rosberg will now be fourth on the grid for Williams with Ralf Schumacher of Toyota fifth ahead of Alonso.

Earlier Saturday, Dennis had blamed Hamilton for the controversy and claimed the Briton defied team orders. Dennis had said that Alonso 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."

On Saturday, it had been agreed that Alonso would make the final pit stop before Hamilton, but the 22-year-old championship leader disobeyed team orders by not letting the Spaniard pass him. According to Dennis, the resulting confusion led to the situation where Hamilton did not exit the pits in time to challenge Alonso's late fastest lap.

"They were out of sequence because Lewis should have slowed and let Fernando past. And he didn't. He charged off," said the McLaren chief. "In this instance, it was Fernando's time to get the advantage of the longer fuel burn. The arrangement was, okay, we're down at the end of the pitlane, we reverse positions in the first lap. That didn't occur as arranged. That was somewhat disappointing and caused some tensions on the pitwall."

"We were, from that moment on, out of sequence because the cars were in the wrong place on the circuit and that unfolded into the pit stops. It complicated the situation into the result, which was Lewis not getting his final timed lap."

Hamilton admitted that he did disobey the team orders but he felt that there had still been enough time for both he and Alonso to squeeze in the extra lap.

"I didn't want to mess up my opportunity by changing places or whatever there was to do, and be open to being overtaken by Kimi and losing my place," said the Briton. "Then it would have not allowed me to get an extra lap. So that's why we had the disagreement, because I didn't agree with it and I didn't do what they wanted me to do."

The facts

With 2 minutes 14 seconds remaining of the session, Alonso pulls his McLaren to a halt in the pit lane.

The car is serviced and is dropped off the jacks with 2m 08s remaining. The lollipop is turned to signal ‘get ready’ with 1m 50 sec remaining. Hamilton is now waiting behind. Two seconds later the lollipop is raised to signal to Alonso it is time to go.

After a further 11 seconds, Alonso leaved the pit (1 min 37 sec) allowing Hamilton to take service. Hamilton leaves the pits with 1m 26 remaining and it is too late...

E.A.
Source AFP

**niky** · August 5th, 2007 12:40 PM

Hmmmm... still a weak excuse by Ron. It was apparent that Fernando had the time to do that last lap... since it was a pole lap... the only thing that move accomplished was to deny Lewis the chance to do one last lap.

I don't know if I'd be complaining so loudly about the steward's decision, considering they got off pretty lightly on the spy scandal.

Oh well... when in doubt... act innocent.

**artpogi** · August 5th, 2007 03:19 PM

what the heck was McLaren doing, geez!

well, what'll be waiting for is when Fernando starts whining about Hamilton's disobeying of team-orders

:waah: <--- Fernando

**Monseratto** · August 5th, 2007 06:40 PM

Sa tingin ko di tatagal si Alonso sa Mclaren, at si Lewis lumalaki ang ulo...

High tension in Hungary

Stewards late on Saturday night stripped Fernando Alonso of pole position following the qualifying pit controversy in Hungary.

His McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton has been promoted to top spot, while the Spaniard drops to sixth after FIA representatives at the Hungaroring accepted neither Alonso or the Woking based team's explanations for the delay that cost Hamilton a shot at pole.

That decision is not subject to an appeal, but McLaren has appealed the stewards' decision to strip it of any potential constructors' points in Sunday's race in Budapest.

It means McLaren has booked a second date at the FIA's International Court of Appeal, which will be held separately to the case relating to the espionage saga at some point in the near future.

The stewards' statement read: "The explanation given by Alonso as to why he remained in his pit stop position is not accepted."

They found that Alonso 'unnecessarily impeded' Hamilton.

"The explanation given by the team as to why they kept Alonso stationary is not accepted," the stewards added.

The British newspaper Sunday Mirror, meanwhile, published details of the heated radio argument Hamilton had with boss Ron Dennis after the incident.

Hamilton: "Don't ever f---ing do that to me again."

Dennis: "Don't f---ing talk to me like that."

Hamilton: "You can go and f---ing swivel."

Source GMM
CAPSIS International

Dennis admits difficult relationship with Alonso

Ron Dennis in Budapest admitted that he is enduring a difficult relationship with double world champion Fernando Alonso.

Spaniard Alonso, whose pole position was later stripped by the stewards, refused to acknowledge his McLaren boss as they met in the weighing area following qualifying on Saturday.

It was the latest in a string of reminders that the pair do not get on.

"We are trying to improve our relationship," Dennis told the Spanish media in Hungary before the 'pit-gate' controversy was sparked.

He admitted that Lewis Hamilton is better integrated with the Woking based team due to his long relationship with McLaren.

"For sure Fernando is right at the beginning of his relationship with the team," Dennis said.

"Fernando is a remarkable guy and I like him a lot. He is very private, and I respect that. I think he didn't expect Lewis to be so competitive, but that's life.

"He is a double world champion, he is doing a great job with us and I hope that with the passing of time he ends up loving the team."

Dennis admits that their public encounters, such as when Alonso again ignored his team principal after winning at the Nurburgring two weeks ago, are cold.

"Fernando was somewhat preoccupied with the situation with Massa, but it is obvious that our encounter was slightly distant. I am aware of the fact that he does not feel as comfortable with me as I would like, but I feel the pressure of two very competitive drivers who want to win.

"It is a difficult task to handle the situation and to create the level of tranquillity in those circumstances."

Dennis admits that Alonso was particularly annoyed after Monaco, when the McLaren boss openly admitted to holding back Lewis Hamilton rather than simply celebrate Alonso's dominant win.

Dennis replied: "I am not perfect. The British press jumped on me, attacked me.

"It was difficult. I had to think about what was best for the team. What was put about in the media did affect our relationship. But we are trying to improve that."

"He absolutely deserved to win in Monaco. He drove one of the best races that I have even seen."

Source GMM
CAPSIS International

**CVT** · August 5th, 2007 07:12 PM

What's happening here, RD???

3404:surfing:

**CVT** · August 5th, 2007 07:54 PM

On second thought, was it FA? Or McLaren, indeed?....

This is bad for their TEAM!

3404:surfing:

**torque2006** · August 5th, 2007 11:43 PM

grabe. di pa tapos ang race schedules nag-babangayan na. ano ba yan pataasan ng ihi?

kala ko pa naman pax mclaren-mercedes na for quite sometime in f1.

spy scandal.
alonso-hamilton
alonso-dennis
hamilton-dennis

what a fine year for mclaren.

P.S.

"hungarian pole". nice term :naughty2: