Telegraph staff and agencies

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton again performed superbly in a below par McLaren to claim fifth ahead of Nico Mercedes' Rosberg, but will have to go some to make it three wins in four visits here. For the first time this season Vitaly Petrov finally out-qualified team-mate Robert Kubica, with the duo seventh and eighth.

They are followed by Pedro de la Rosa in his Sauber, equalling his best performance of the season, and Williams' Nico Hulkenberg.

For the second time in the last three races Jenson Button failed to make it into Q1, and the sixth time in the last seven grands prix he has now been out-qualified by Hamilton.

The 30-year-old missed out on a place in the top 10 by 0.017secs, and now faces a fight to gain any respectable points tomorrow to hold on to his second place in the standings. It would appear only rain can help Button tomorrow, as in 2006 when he started from 14th before going on to clinch his maiden victory.

Joining Button on the sixth row of the grid is former Honda and Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello, now with Williams.

It is an all-German seventh row with Force India's Adrian Sutil ahead of Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes who has now failed to make it into Q3 four times in the last races, finishing 0.8secs behind team-mate Rosberg.

The Toro Rossos of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari are 15th and 17th, with Vitantonio Liuzzi in his Force India providing the filling.

The odd man out at the end of the initial 20-minute qualifying run was Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi for the third time in the last five races, with the Japanese starting 18th. The chasm between the more established teams and those in their rookie seasons was significantly underlined around this track as its tight, twisty nature ensured they struggled.

Virgin Racing's Timo Glock was the best of the newcomers, albeit a yawning 1.8secs adrift of Kobayashi, but at least acquiring some personal satisfaction in finishing ahead of the two Lotuses. Glock will start 19th, with Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli 20th and 21st, the duo sandwiching the Virgin boys as Lucas di Grassi is 21st.

Propping up the grid will be the Hispania Racing pair of Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto, a staggering six seconds off Vettel's pace.

"It was a very good day for us," said the German. "All weekend we have felt comfortable, from the first practice session onwards, and overnight we improved it a bit.

"I said to the team over the radio that this was their moment because although Mark and myself are pushing hard to finish first and second, they have built this wonderful car. So I'm happy to be on pole again. It means a lot for us, my team and myself."

Vettel, who has only won once this season from his six previous poles, added: "Hopefully I can have a good start and then a good race because there are no points on a Saturday."

Webber admitted to having given it his best, adding: "It wasn't the cleanest lap, my first. But Seb deserves pole. It was a good lap, 18.7, and it wasn't my day, but the guys have done a phenomenal job all weekend.

"This was pretty similar to Barcelona here. We knew it was going to be between us, and whoever did the quickest lap would get pole."

With Alonso so far back all the Spaniard can hope for is to apply as much pressure as possible.

"There is a big gap between Red Bull and us," said Alonso. "We maximised our potential. We did our job, which is being the best of the rest. Hopefully we can make it a difficult race for them because so far it has been too easy."

Grid positions for Hungarian Grand Prix
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1min 18.773secs
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:19.184
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:19.987
4 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:20.331
5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:20.499
6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:21.082
7 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:21.229
8 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:21.328
9 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 1:21.411
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1:21.710
11 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:21.292
12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 1:21.331
13 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:21.517
14 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:21.630
15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.897
16 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:21.927
17 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.998
18 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 1:22.222
19 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 1:24.050
20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 1:24.120
21 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 1:24.199
22 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 1:25.118
23 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 1:26.391
24 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) HRT-F1 1:26.453

David Coulthard

Firstly, I never said Ferrari did not break the rules at Hockenheim. I simply argued that the rule should no longer be there as that is the only way I can think of to achieve transparency.

Secondly, I would like to think my views are based on facts. I have been involved in Formula One for the past 20 years both as an observer and a driver and, like it or not, team orders exist.

It is not a question of whether I believe they are right or wrong (although personally I believe they are right), I'm saying they are unavoidable.

If my detractors think fan power can change that fact then great. If they think that sweeping the issue under the carpet will satisfy their romantic ideals, I'll try not to tell them that Father Christmas doesn't exist. But he doesn't. Don't shoot the messenger.

Massa mauling grossly unfair

Felipe Massa's performance in Thursday's press conference got everyone very excited. His reputation is on the line at the moment and everyone is looking to see whether he will fight his corner.

I think the painting of him as a stooge has been grossly unfair. Basically he did everything that was necessary to win the German Grand Prix. He showed he was a great driver. But it's a team sport and Ferrari made a call.

It's exhausting trying to justify the realities of grand prix racing.

Will he pull over again if the same set of circumstances arise on Sunday? Yes, I believe he will.

Dennis begs to differ

Ron Dennis's recent criticism of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button was interesting chiefly as it is the first time I can remember him talking about his drivers' public positions, even when Fernando Alonso was causing him trouble in 2007.

As far as his central argument is concerned, I am not convinced. Ron says he is unhappy that McLaren's drivers keep flagging up the car's lack of qualifying pace. The MP4-25 has been designed for reliability and race pace, he argues. Hmm.

I think that race teams always try to design the fastest single-lap race car they can and then make it reliable.

Feel the force in Hungary

The Hangaroring celebrates its 25th anniversary this weekend. If it is hot then physically it is one of the more demanding circuits on the calendar; high downforce, high brake wear, high fuel effect.

Typically it was always seen as being a Monaco-style circuit where qualifying was crucial and overtaking difficult, but I think it is more open now because of the longer straight into turn one and the wide hairpin.

This circuit is more about downforce than high-end speed so it should suit the Red Bulls.

I'm curious to see who will emerge as their main challengers this weekend. It was Ferrari at Hockenheim and I suspect it will be again.

The bits to watch out for are turn one for overtaking, turn four for driver mistakes (this is where Massa had his accident last year – the tyre marks are still visible in the run-off area) and the middle sector – everything from the chicane to the final corner. That is where you pick up all your lap time.

Tom Cary, in Budapest

"I do point out to them, 'Well, I still think you won four races between the two of you. Aren't you leading the world championship?' It's the nature of drivers."

Uh-oh. Dennis will have been less than pleased, then, to hear his drivers' thoughts on practice at the Hungaroring. After going sixth and ninth fastest respectively, both Hamilton and Button predicted a difficult weekend ahead.

"We're massively down," Hamilton said. "Almost a second in the middle sector, and then a couple of tenths in the first and last sectors, I think the last sector is almost half a second [deficit].

"So we've got a lot of work to do and I guess this weekend's just about scoring as many points as we can and hoping that the guys ahead have troubles. I think being in the top five could be tricky."

Button was similarly blunt. "The Red Bull is just so fast," the world champion said. "They did a 1min 20.0sec. We didn't get near the low 1min 21sec.

"I feel reasonably happy with the balance of the car. There's still more to improve, but we're never going to find a second. If we can get into the top five in qualifying, we should be very happy with that."

The fact that Dennis, who now heads up McLaren Automotive since stepping down as team principal last year, has criticised his drivers' public utterances is interesting for a number of reasons.

Firstly, of course, it only highlights the fact that McLaren are staring up the exhaust pipes of both the Red Bulls and the Ferraris.

Dennis argues that the reason McLaren are short of qualifying pace is because they have built a car to suit this season's regulations.

"We felt that we put great emphasis on the ability of the car to be gentle on the tyres and for the tyres to be in really good shape throughout the race," he said. "If you do that, it's to the detriment of being able to get the best out of the tyre in a qualifying condition.

"No question, we don't have an optimised car for qualifying. But we do have a very good race car. And in the end we've won races and we're leading both world championships, and both of our drivers are first and second."

No arguments there. But on the evidence of the last two races, they may not be there for that long.

McLaren's ongoing struggles with the Red Bull-style blown diffuser, which they first put on and then took off at Silverstone, have been compounded by the fact that both Red Bull and Ferrari are using a radical new front wing system which flexes further at high speed and appears to be giving them an awful lot more downforce than McLaren, a particularly useful trait in Hungary.

The 'flexi-wing', as it has been dubbed, was looked at by stewards in Hockenheim last weekend, and they eventually declared it legal. The problem for McLaren is they are not sure why. "It doesn't just seem to be their wing that flexes," Button said on Friday night. "We're not sure how they are doing it legally. It's worrying."

The other interesting thing about Dennis's comments is the fact that he is making them at all. There are rumours in the paddock that he may be interested in stepping back into the F1 limelight at some point. Not an easy situation for his successor, Martin Whitmarsh.

While all that was going on, Fernando Alonso was busy proving that he is right back in the championship mix.

Fresh from his controversial win last weekend, he went second quickest to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in practice on Friday and afterwards the Ferrari man said he was confident the half-second gap was not as big as it seemed.

"We are happy but we know Friday means very little," he said. "I think it's always important to do well and to close the gap to the leaders, who at the moment are McLaren in both championships."

Telegraph staff and agencies

Their nearest challenger was Renault's Robert Kubica who was just over a second adrift of Vettel, a phenomenal gap, with reigning world champion Jenson Button fourth in his McLaren, almost another four tenths of a second back.

The remainder of the top 10 contained a veritable mix of drivers as Button was followed by Williams' Rubens Barrichello and the Sauber of Pedro de la Rosa, as high as the Spaniard has figured all year.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, in the spotlight this week in relation to the team orders controversy that helped him win the German Grand Prix on Sunday, was seventh, 1.796secs down.

The Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher followed closely behind, separated by just 0.115secs, with Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10 in his Williams, the only other driver to finish within two seconds of Vettel.

Adrian Sutil, in a Force India sporting the team's own version of the performance-enhancing exhaust blown diffuser, was 11th.

The German was half a second up on team-mate and reserve Paul di Resta, driving a car in normal trim as the engineers looked at the comparison data.

In 12th, and somewhat poignantly, was Felipe Massa, on his first day back at the track where just over a year ago he was involved in a near-fatal accident.

As if Massa did not have enough to contend with following the fall-out from Hockenheim, the Brazilian has also had to cope with the emotion of heading into this weekend.

Yesterday Massa spoke with a number of the personnel at the medical centre at the circuit who helped save his life following his smash in qualifying for last season's race.

The 29-year-old was struck over his left eye by a spring that broke off a Brawn GP car then driven by friend and compatriot Rubens Barrichello.

Massa sustained a fractured skull and spent three days at the local AEK hospital in an induced coma as the medical team fought to save him.

Massa made a remarkable recovery, leaving the hospital after nine days, although he later required further surgery to have a metal plate inserted to protect his skull.

Massa took to the track today admitting to having no memory of the accident, other than images he had seen on television, and confident the incident would play no part in his thinking.

Unusually, albeit clearly on heavy fuel, Lewis Hamilton found himself down amongst the smaller teams in 18th place in his McLaren, three seconds behind Vettel.

Tom Cary

"You want to win the championship knowing you have beaten every single one fair and square and nothing has been given to you."

Tom Cary in Budapest

Almost the saddest spectacle of the day came when the hugely respected reporter from O Estado de Sao Paulo asked Massa in a soft voice whether he feared his actions might have damaged his reputation back in Brazil.

Massa looked crushed.

"I am a professional," he pleaded. "You have your job to do and I have mine."

Four days later and it appears Massa may have hardened his attitude.

Asked whether he would roll over again this weekend if a similar situation arose, Massa's reply was unambiguous.

"I will win," he said. "The time I say I am a No2 driver I will not race any more. I am not. I've spoken to everyone inside the team and I'm not just here to race, I'm here to win."

Encouraging stuff. Although Massa then added that he was still the same "team player and we know how important that is", he gave another encouraging response when the same quiet assassin from Brazil asked him whether, on reflection, he felt like he had betrayed his country with his actions in Germany.

"For sure not. I always do everything I can for my country. Anyone thinking like that is completely wrong. I will fight for the victory here whatever the conditions," he added.

Sitting to his right, Rubens Barrichello was nodding his approval. The veteran's reputation has never truly recovered from the six seasons he spent playing the stooge to Michael Schumacher.

He knows first hand where such compliance can lead. Back home they call him 'The Tortoise'.

"I called Felipe and told him what I think but it must stay between us," Barrichello said.

"All I can say is I felt very sorry for him last Sunday. He is a friend and I wish he had not had to go through that. I don't like that, I never did. That's why I made changes in my life and changed teams."

Barrichello, who is currently driving for Williams, added that he did not wish to see the team orders ban repealed and appeared to suggest it would be a dirty title were Alonso to go on and win it from here.

"You should be allowed to race," he said firmly. "You win the championship by one point because somebody let you win?

"What is the point? If I had to be a bad guy to be world champion I don't care for that. I will teach my boys the way my father taught me. That's my view."

Massa, who paid a visit to the circuit's medical staff who helped save his life last year after his qualifying accident, added that he would not be holding back in practice on Friday due to any lingering sense of unease at the memory.

That is all well and good. But will he hold back on Sunday if asked?

Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari describes a lap of the Hungaroring.

Exclusive podcast: Red Bull's Christian Horner on the team order that gave Fernando Alonso victory.

Brian Moore

The reasons cited to support the view that it does not matter are firstly that it is a silly rule and secondly, it is broken on many occasions.

Such observations were not ones which anyone thought sufficient to exculpate Dean Richards during ‘Bloodgate’, even though both could have been claimed with equal force. It is only when applied to a different set of known sporting facts that the flaws in such reasoning are fully exposed.

The extra insult comes because of the gibberish now being spouted by Ferrari and others to suggest that black is in fact white. To many avid F1 fans the controversy over this incident and subsequent $100,000 (£64,500) instant fine for the Ferrari team is frivolous bagatelle, something whipped up by a rabid media.

The fuss is actually about illegality. Whether those in the know, looking from what they see as a position of knowledge, believe the rule to be nonsense is not the point; it was introduced after Ferrari’s manipulation of the Austrian GP in 2002 had brought opprobrium on F1 and remains valid until repealed.

Participants cannot select which rules they wish to adhere to or else anarchy ensues. What is to stop teams taking Ferrari’s lead and breaking the ban on in-season testing, something that no lesser figure than Michael Schumacher has called similarly ridiculous?

Regarding the decision and incident itself: the utter drivel being proffered by way of explanation is revealed by looking at the event logically.

If Alonso was faster, and there was very little evidence that this was significant, he could have overtaken Massa anyway. Further, since the furore there have been contradictory accounts of why Massa made the decision, including the risible claim that the passing manoeuvre happened because “Massa made a small mistake when shifting up three gears at once”. If this was a freely made decision there would only have been one reason given, not several.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has tried to deflect flak by attacking his detractors, saying: “Enough of the hypocrisy. This has always happened. If one races for Ferrari, then the interests of the team come before those of the individual.”

Perhaps he has forgotten the fit of moral outrage shown by his leading driver only a few weeks ago when Alonso attacked the Valencia stewards for what he called manipulating the result.

Without a shred of consideration for how Massa might feel, Alonso is now lauding his win, saying it was a “great feeling” and that “all wins are special” – well only if you are not a real sportsman. If you know you haven’t earned it you shut up and move on.

Ferrari have effectively announced that only one driver is challenging for the drivers’ title. That being so, they should face demands for the return of any bet made by a punter who put money on Massa winning the title or indeed any race.

Where this leaves Massa, who last year could have been left blinded by his accident in the Hungarian Grand Prix, God only knows. If all this is de rigueur for F1, what does it say about the drivers who are prepared to be treated in this way?

Ferrari have cited the need to sell cars and the number of jobs involved as justification for their actions. Can anyone recall similar declarations being made by any other sport? Even if there is a connection between the two matters it should not rationalise team orders.

The same could be said of motorbike sales and success in MotoGP, yet there are no team orders in that sport. The astonishing final-corner pass by Valentino Rossi of his then team-mate, Jorge Lorenzo, at Catalunya in 2009 shows the spirit F1 should have but does not.

Indeed in terms of excitement, overtaking and contest, MotoGP outstrips F1 every time.

Those who claim that what Ferrari did was no more than is done with the leading riders in the Tour de France are wide of the mark. The essential difference is that it is made plain that the aim of the teams is to manufacture the best position for their leading hill climbers and sprinters and everybody knows beforehand; they are not misled.

This incident comes after a litany of illegalities, fake crashing and threatened litigation. If F1 and all those involved, both teams and supporters, are happy for these practices to continue, they should at least stop claiming F1 is a sport like any other.

Competition without manipulation is an essential part of sport; without it, however glamorous the trappings, it is nothing more than entertainment and however dazzling are the accoutrements, it cannot stand alongside true sports.

It has been said in the past that F1 doesn’t care about bad publicity because it is all good for exposure but this may not be the case forever.

Additionally, the thing about tipping points is that they are unpredictable; if F1 tips over the point of credibility it would have to work very hard to regain it. Then again, with so many would-be Jeremy Clarksons around, the truth may be that any manipulated nonsense will do.

Tom Cary

At the end of this season Williams, seen as the absolute litmus test for the health of Formula One in general, will lose their main sponsor, the Royal Bank of Scotland. Philips and Air Asia are also coming to the end of their deals with the team and as yet have not been replaced.

Most recently, it emerged last week that Renault had gone cap in hand to Ecclestone asking for an advance on their television rights money.

And while F1’s 79-year-old commercial rights holder played that story down yesterday, he admitted that some other teams may not be around for too much longer.

“All that was [the Renault story] was the fact that one of the shareholders didn’t want to take money from another one of his companies because that would have meant convening a board meeting,” he said. “But I never gave them the money. And they got over the crisis so everything is fine.

“But I would not be surprised if one or two of them did not make the end of the season. I think there are a couple of teams in Formula One who really shouldn’t be there. They are a bit out of their depth at the moment.”

Ecclestone said he was not worried about a lack of teams on the grid next year. F1’s governing body, the FIA, is taking applications for a 13th entry to supplement the present 12 teams, but Ecclestone says 10 is all that is needed.

“All we ever want is 10 teams,” he said. “Lotus is a good name. I wouldn’t want to lose them. But in general this year has been a bit of a nuisance because it has cost money to keep these [struggling] teams in. It has cost a lot of money to pay for them to compete.

"The bottom line is they haven’t really and truly given us value for being there. If suddenly these teams don’t turn up at races then I don’t think the crowds will get any smaller, or the TV sets will turn off, or the newspapers will stop writing, will they?”

Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, has fanned the flames of controversy that surrounded his victory at Hockenheim on Sunday by describing it as a “great feeling”.

The Spaniard won the race only because Ferrari illegally ordered his team-mate, Felipe Massa, to move aside and let him through.

While Ferrari were fined $100,000 (£64,579) on the spot – the maximum that stewards are allowed to hand out – and could yet face further sanctions for a clear-cut breach of the rules, Alonso is unrepentant.

“All wins are special,” he wrote in his blog on Ferrari’s official website. “Winning is a great feeling and that was the case in Hockenheim, especially when I think of the huge workload undertaken by everyone at Maranello to achieve this fantastic one-two finish.

“We did not have much luck in some races and, because of unusual incidents, we did not pick up the points we deserved.

"There was a slight feeling of frustration with this lack of results, but at last in Germany, for once we had a normal race on a weekend when we had no problems whatsoever and the result was there for all to see. Now we must continue in this direction, starting this coming weekend in Budapest.”

Ferrari’s actions may have sparked fierce debate within the sport over the relative merits of the team orders rule, but fans are overwhelmingly in favour of further punishment for the Italian team.

In one online survey carried out by Autoblog, 95 per cent of over 15,000 respondents said they wanted to see the World Motor Sport Council inflict further punishment, with 27 per cent of those keen to see Ferrari kicked out of the championship entirely.