Alonso blames McLaren for Lewis hold-up

Fernando Alonso insists it was McLaren's fault that Lewis Hamilton wasn't able to launch a counter-attack for pole position in Saturday's Hungarian qualifying. "The team held me back in this," the Spaniard said in the post-race press conference. We tried to have some space with the Ferrari (Raikkonen) in front of us." He added: "I am always monitoring the pitstop by the radio. They do the calculations, they find the gaps and I just drive the car. I am always ready to go, as soon as they put on the tyres." However, that's not how it looked.

Nearing the end of the third and final qualifying segment, Alonso remained stationary in the McLaren pitbox for several seconds while Hamilton queued up behind him - and Alonso did so despite having already been waved out by the team. The hold-up meant that while Alonso was able to get across the line before the chequered flag fell and start a flying lap, Hamilton was not. And as a result, the McLaren rookie lost out on pole position. As for his thoughts on the incident, Hamilton said: "There's not really much to say. You saw what happened."


Asked by how much he missed across the line to start his flying lap, the Brit added: "By about as much as I was held up." Hamilton, though, wasn't the only one keeping his thoughts to himself. His team boss Ron Dennis told ITV: "It is a matter to be discussed within the team, and we will do so later."

Source: Planet-F1