Hamilton up to speed after strife in slow lane

MOTOR SPORT/Hungarian Grand Prix:As is traditional at a circuit regularly described by Formula One drivers as a crushing bore all the action at the Hungarian Grand Prix happened off the track, the 70 laps of the race representing a stunning anticlimax after the drama of the previous 24 hours.

The race, at a track where overtaking is as irrelevant as at Monaco, was a facile lights-to-flight victory for Britain's Lewis Hamilton, but it was the manner in which the young prodigy had arrived under the lights that was the talking point of the weekend.

The McLaren star and his championship rival and team-mate Fernando Alonso traded blows throughout the opening phases of the weekend, the Spaniard dominating Friday's practice before Hamilton responded with his own lightning-quick run on Saturday. But in qualifying the battles escalated into all-out war.

In the third and final part of qualifying, the short session to determine the top 10 on the grid for Sunday's race, the pair reached the last two minutes of the session with Hamilton on provisional pole and little between him and his team-mate.

Then Alonso entered the pits to take on fresh tyres for his last tilt at pole. Behind him Hamilton also entered the pits. Alonso was given the all clear to leave and he went - nowhere.

Hamilton sat waiting as almost 20 seconds ticked by, enough time to prevent Hamilton starting a fresh flying lap before the clock ran out on the session. On track, and with a lighter fuel load than Hamilton had on his fastest lap, Alonso blazed to pole position.

It was the start of 24 hours of mayhem. Alonso celebrated wildly. The pair dutifully posed for photographs but the smiles were forced, the body language strained. In the post-qualifying press conference Alonso claimed it had been planned that he hold station in front of Hamilton.

"The team was holding me back in the pit stops and we tried to have a bit of space on the track, especially to the Ferrari ahead of us," he said calmly.

Hamilton though was clearly angry. "Not really much to say," he said bluntly. "You saw what happened." Later he confessed to British TV he had been confused by the incident.

"At the time I came in, I was told I would be coming in behind Fernando so I should just slow down a bit," he said. "So I cruised, then I stopped and put it into neutral, the lollipop went up so I was about to go. Then I sort of waited for a little bit longer.

"You just have to stay composed you know," he added. "If you let it get to you then you're stuffed . . . I was just wondering why I was waiting so long and thinking, 'oh there is my opportunity for pole just gone out of the window'."

There followed a lengthy response from team boss Ron Dennis, who laid the blame for the mess firmly at the feet of Hamilton, saying the British driver had disobeyed an instruction to let Alonso past as the Spaniard was following a strategy whereby he would burn off an extra lap of fuel in the final qualifying session as part of his race strategy.

The authorities were not impressed with the whole episode and team and drivers were hauled before stewards in a five-hour deliberation. At 11.30pm the verdict was delivered: Alonso would be penalised five places on the grid and, crucially, McLaren would receive no constructors' points should their drivers finish in the top eight.

"The actions of the team in the final minutes of qualifying are considered prejudicial to the interests of the competition and to the interests of motorsport generally," the report noted.

McLaren, naturally appealed, and the result, at least on the constructors' side, is now in dispute until a hearing of the World Motor Sport Council.

Race day saw the drama continue as McLaren issued a statement: "We do not believe that the findings of the stewards and the severe penalty imposed on the team are appropriate," it added before concluding, "We are, however, only hours away from an important race and are focusing all our efforts on achieving the best possible result. "

For Hamilton that was relatively straightforward. After making a clean start, he quickly settled into a groove around the tight circuit and comfortably held off Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and third-placed Nick Heidfeld of BMW-Sauber.

Hamilton carries a seven-point lead over Alonso to the Turkish Grand Prix in three weeks' time, and the future looks bright.

"It's been an eventful weekend and quite emotional for all the team," he said before adding, "but the great thing is the team remains positive and it just proves that nothing can stop us."

Nothing, it seems, except the team's willingness to court controversy and keen desire to see its two drivers at each other's throats until the flag falls in the final race in Brazil in October.Leading positions (70 Laps): 1 L Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1hr 35mins 52.991secs, 2 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:35:53.706, 3 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:36:36.120, 4 F Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:36:37.849, 5 R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:36:40.607, 6 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:36:43.600, 7 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:36:52.130, 8 H Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:37:01.095, 9 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:37:09.322, 10 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota at 1 Lap, 11 D Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull at 1 Lap, 12 G Fisichella (Ita) Renault at 1 Lap, 13 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari at 1 Lap, 14 A Wurz (Aut) Williams at 1 Lap, 15 T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri at 1 Lap, 16 S Vettel (Ger) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 17 A Sutil (Ger) Spyker at 2 Laps, 18 R Barrichello (Bra) Honda at 2 Laps.

Not classified: 19 V Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 42 Laps completed, 20 A Davidson (Gbr) Super Aguri 41 Laps, 21 J Button (Gbr) Honda 35 Laps, 22 S Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker 4 Laps.

Drivers standings: 1 Hamilton 80pts, 2 Alonso 73, 3 Raikkonen 60, 4 Massa 59, 5 Heidfeld 42, 6 Kubica 28, 7 Fisichella 17, 8 Kovalainen 16, 9 Wurz 13, 10 Coulthard l 8, 11 Webber 8, 12 Trulli 7, 13 Rosberg 7, 14 Schumacher 5, 15 Sato 4, 16 Vettel 1, 17 Button 1.

Manufacturers: 1 McLaren 153pts, 2 Ferrari 119, 3 BMW Sauber 71, 4 Renault 33, 5 Williams 20, 6 Red Bull 16, 7 Toyota 12, 8 Super Aguri 4, 9 Honda 1.