25/07/2009
NEWS STORY
Bridgestone's super soft tyre provided the grip for ING Renault F1 Team driver Fernando Alonso to qualify on pole position with a time of 1min 21.569secs for tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring.
Today's final qualifying session was delayed after Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro) was hit by an object, which appeared to come from another car, and drove into the tyre barriers at turn four. Massa was taken from the scene by ambulance and by helicopter from the circuit, and is being monitored in hospital.
Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) set the fastest time in the morning practice session, using the super soft tyre to set a time of 1min 21.009secs.
What was significant about today's running?
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development: "Firstly, we send our very best wishes to Felipe Massa. We hope he makes a quick recovery.
"Lap times were exceptionally close today and we saw an interesting battle through the qualifying sessions. There was plenty of suspense even after the sessions had ended. Congratulations to Fernando Alonso for his first pole since Monza in 2007. Starting first is a very big prize here, as overtaking is so difficult. I am very interested to see the starting weights of the cars as I think we will have a fascinating race."
What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow's race?
HH: "The track surface continues to improve here, even though there was very heavy rain last night, and this improvement allows both tyres to work far better than we saw on Friday. Our data suggests that the super soft Bridgestone could be the favoured race tyre for many. We didn't see much running of the soft tyre in the afternoon today, but in the morning there were some driver comments that there was not as much grip from this tyre and the lap times are slower. This means that how to use the soft tyre is likely to be the key consideration for tomorrow's race."