25/07/2009
NEWS STORY
Felipe Massa's accident has overshadowed today's events in Budapest, however, here is a brief rundown of what happened in qualifying.
Naturally, the start of Q3 was delayed after Felipe's accident and there was confusion towards the end, when the official timing screens went blank not once but twice in the final minutes. This meant that while the drivers knew what their own times were, seeing them on their on-board display, they did not know where they were on the grid.
In the end, it was Renault's Fernando Alonso who secured pole position, his first of the season and 18th of his career. Making it a Renault one-two-three, the two Red Bull Renaults were next quickest, Sebastian Vettel ahead of Mark Webber. Joining the Australian on the outside of Row 2 is the McLaren-Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, while row three is made up of Nick Rosberg in the Williams and Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren. Kimi Raikkonen qualified seventh for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro and has world championship leader Jenson Button in the Brawn on his outside on row four.