Ferrari has the perfect opportunity to significantly close up its 27 deficit in the F1 constructors championship as the stewards in Hungary have ruled that the McLaren-Mercedes team will score no points in today's grand prix after an incident in yesterday's qualifying session.

McLaren found themselves mired in controversy again as Fernando Alonso appeared to block team mate Lewis Hamilton in the pits and prevent the English championship leader for making his final qualifying run before the final seconds on the clock ticked away. Alonso's trainer appeared to be counting the seconds down after the 'lollypop' had been raised by his pit crew to let him back out onto the track and with Hamilton waiting behind him. After the qualifying session team boss Ron Dennis was seen marching Alonso's trainer away.

The stewards deliberated Alonso's pit lane actions and nearly eight hours after the incident they announced that Alonso would be dropped five places on the grid (to sixth) and that the team wouldn't be eligible for constructors' points from today's race. They rejected McLaren's explanations for the incident but left the team with leave to appeal which McLaren announced they would do. The FIA Court of Appeal will sit at a future date meaning that the race results will be provisional.

However Ferrari has been handed an excellent opportunity to make major inroads into the 27 point gap that exists between themselves and the top-of-the -table McLaren-Mercedes team in the F1 constructors' championship. In the drivers championship Hamilton leads on 70 points, two ahead of his team mate Alonso (68). Ferrari's Felipe Massa is next up (59) ahead of his team mate Kimi Raikkonen (52) who will move up from fourth to third on the grid for today's race as a result of Alonso's five place demotion.

Hungarian GP - Stewards Decision

During the final minutes of Qualifying, the car driven by Fernando Alonso remained in its pit stop position at the completion of his pit stop notwithstanding the fact that his team-mate Lewis Hamilton was waiting immediately behind him to commence his own pit stop. The delay prevented Hamilton from being able to complete his final flying lap of Qualifying. The Team Principal, together with the team manager and both drivers were called before the Stewards and asked to explain their actions. Reference was made to video and audio evidence. The facts and the explanation given by the team are as follows:

At the commencement of the third period of the Qualifying practice it had been agreed within the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team ("The Team") that Fernando Alonso would leave the pit exit ahead of Lewis Hamilton in order to benefit from the possibility for purposes of fuel burn allowance of being able to complete an additional lap. In the event, the car driven by Lewis Hamilton arrived at the pit exit before that of Fernando Alonso and when the pit lane opened he left in front of Alonso. The team required Hamilton by radio communication to allow Alonso to pass in order that he might endeavour to complete his extra lap. Because of the proximity of the Ferrari driven by Kimi Raikkonen, however, Hamilton declined to allow Alonso to pass despite repeated requests from the team to do so.

Reference to the radio communications passing between the team and its two drivers shows that the team told Hamilton at 14:56:44 to "box this lap" and required him to do a "hard in lap" but advised him some 32 seconds later to "slow the pace a little."
 

"Just lose a couple of seconds before the end of the lap because Fernando is pitting in front of you". At 14:57:34, just 18 seconds later Alonso was told that when he pitted "we are going to hold you for 20 seconds". At 14:57:46 Alonso's car arrived at his pit stop position, his tyres were changed and the jacks removed just 6 seconds later. The car then remained in position from 14:57:52 to 14:58:12 when the signal known as the "lollipop" was raised indicating that the driver was free to leave.

By this time Hamilton's car had arrived and stopped immediately behind that of Alonso. Alonso, instead of leaving his pit in order that his team-mate Hamilton could complete his pit stop, remained in position for a further 10 seconds. He then left the pit lane in sufficient time to reach the Control Line before the end of Qualifying, completed a flying lap in which he set the fastest time and secured pole position. Because of the delay caused by Alonso, Hamilton was unable to complete his pit stop in time sufficient to enable him also to complete a flying lap.

The team were asked to explain why having indicated to Hamilton that he must stop at his pit on the next lap, they then informed Alonso whilst he was still on the track that when he also pitted on the next lap he would be held for 20 seconds. The team stated that they frequently give estimates as to duration of pit stop to their drivers before they pit and that the reason the car was in fact held for 20 seconds was that it was being counted down prior to release at a beneficial time regard being given to other cars on the track.

Alonso was asked why he waited for some 10 seconds before leaving the pits after being given the signal to leave. His response was that he was enquiring as to whether the correct set of tyres had been fitted to his car. When asked why this conversation did not take place during the 20 second period when his car sat stationary all work on it having been completed, it was stated that it was not possible to communicate by radio because of the countdown being given to him.

Reference to the circuit map shows that at the time Alonso was told he would be held for 20 seconds there were but 4 cars on the circuit, his own and those of Fisichella, Hamilton and Raikkonen. All but Raikkonen entered the pits such that there can have been no necessity to keep Alonso in the pits for 20 seconds waiting for a convenient gap in traffic in which to leave.

The explanation given by Alonso as to why at the expiration of the 20 second period he remained in his pit stop position for a further 10 seconds is not accepted. The Stewards find that he unnecessarily impeded another driver, Hamilton, and as a result he will be penalised by a loss of 5 grid positions. The explanation given by the team as to why they kept Alonso stationary for 20 seconds after completion of his tyre change and therefore delayed Hamilton's own pit stop is not accepted.

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 motor sport generally. The penalty to be applied is that such points (if any) in the 2007 Formula One Constructors Championship as accrue to the team as a result of their participation in the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix wilt be withdrawn.