Hayden and Masi’s heroic cover

FHM Heroes Hayden

It seems Hayden Panettiere and Masi Oka is quickly becoming everyone’s favourite characters on hit US television show Heroes. In the latest issue of the UK edition of FHM – a men’s lifestyle magazine – the cheerleader and the man that can stop time is on the cover.

I really love the comic book style cover – it matches the painting style to Isaac Mendez’s artwork – though the pictures of Hayden in the magazine are something else!

And this weekend, I will have the unique opportunity to meet Claire Bennet, as there is a special comic and film convention in London’s Earls Court. So it’s the case of meet the cheerleader, savour the moment!

Massa leads Ferrari 1-2 at Istanbul

Massa Turkey Winner

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa led home his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen with a dominant display in Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix. The Brazilian led from the start and resisted a race-long pressure from Raikkonen to reignited his and Ferrari’s title challenge.

It was an important win for Massa as the team’s president Luca di Montezemolo had set a target of scoring 1-2 finishes in the remaining six races in order to turn the tables on rival McLaren. Now that we are heading into Ferrari’s home race in a fortnight’s time (Monza), the first stage of this target has been achieved.

It also helps that the championship leader Lewis Hamilton could only finish in fifth after suffering a puncture.

Hamilton was on course to finish in third but with just 15 laps to go, his front-right Bridgestone exploded… Luckily, he managed to get his car back to the pits but the consequent delay dropped him behind his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso – who had lost ground with a poor start – and BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld.

And although he salvaged four points with fifth position, his misfortune gifted team-mate Alonso a podium, which allows the Spaniard to close within five points in the race for the drivers’ title.

The double world champion was lucky to inherit third as he made a poor getaway off the grid. In fact, neither McLarens got away well at the start of the race, with Hamilton immediately losing second to Raikkonen and Alonso dropping to sixth behind the two BMW Saubers.

Although the Spaniard managed to re-pass both Robert Kubica and Heidfeld during the first pit sequence, Alonso had already fallen 14 seconds adrift of the leaders by this time. He proceeded to match Hamilton’s pace, but could not gain any ground and would not have bettered fourth place if his team-mate’s race had run trouble-free.

Finishing in sixth went to Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen, who drove a strong race and at one point, actually led the Grand Prix! The Finn even had a opportunity to pass Hamilton’s damaged car in the closing stages of the race, but in the end Kovalainen crossed the line a second adrift behind the McLaren.

Nico Rosberg was another driver who put in a fine performance for Williams. The German finished in seventh, just about holding off the chasing Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber. Kubica’s strategy of making early pit-stops cost the BMW Sauber driver dear, as he fell behind Alonso, Heidfeld and Kovalainen in the first sequence. And then he lost out another race position to Rosberg at the final stops.

But no such worries for Ferrari, as the team scored an impressive result. This was Massa’s second consecutive Turkish Grand Prix win and the Brazilian has significantly close the points gap between himself and the world championship leader Lewis Hamilton to just 15 points.

In the constructors’ championship, McLaren retain their lead with 148 points to Ferrari’s 137, while BMW Sauber are still a healthy third on 78 as the championship moves to Monza.

Turkish Grand Prix race result – 58 laps

1. MASSA Ferrari 1h26m42.161s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +2.2s
3. ALONSO McLaren +26.1s
4. HEIDFELD BMW +39.6s
5. HAMILTON McLaren +45.0s
6. KOVALAINEN Renault +46.1s
7. ROSBERG Williams +55.7s
8. KUBICA BMW +56.7s
9. FISICHELLA Renault +59.4s
10. COULTHARD Red Bull +1m11.0s
11. WURZ Williams +1m19.6s
12. R SCHUMACHER Toyota +1 lap
13. BUTTON Honda +1 laps
14. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +1 laps
15. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +1 laps
16. TRULLI Toyota +1 lap
17. BARRICHELLO Honda +1 lap
18. SATO Super Aguri +1 lap
19. VETTEL Toro Rosso +1 lap
20. YAMAMOTO Spyker +2 laps
21. SUTIL Spyker +5 laps
R. WEBBER Red Bull +49 laps

Fastest lap: RAIKKONEN 1min. 27.295 secs

Massa steals pole position from Hamilton in Turkey

Massa Turkey Qualifying

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa beats the world championship leader Lewis Hamilton in the final moments of qualifying to take his fifth pole position of the season.

The Brazilian has a good record at the Istanbul Park race circuit. Massa scored his first pole position and race victory last year, so to repeat his qualifying performance this season is a fantastic achievement.

Initially, Lewis Hamilton had the advantage after making the switch to the white stripes Bridgestone tyres during his final run. The Formula One rookie set the benchmark with a time of one minute, 27.373 seconds. But as his McLaren team were celebrating, Felipe Massa had the faster momentum out of the tricky final sequences of corners to cross the line with a time of one minute, 27.329 seconds.

This edge out Hamilton down to second but both drivers out-performed their respective team-mates, who will line up behind in third and fourth.

Kimi Raikkonen blew his chance to take top spot when he made a slight error into the penultimate corner. His time of one minute, 27.546 seconds was sufficient enough to keep McLaren’s Fernando Alonso down in fourth with a lap time of one minute, 27.574 seconds.

The double world champion opted for the harder Bridgestone compound in his bid to set the quickest time, but this gamble didn’t work and will line up on row two.

Behind the Ferrari and McLaren pair, Robert Kubica drove a great lap to record one minute, 27.722 seconds to take fifth for BMW-Sauber. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld is directly behind with one minute, 28.037 seconds, while Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg in the Williams completed row four with one minute, 28.491 seconds and one minute, 28.501 seconds respectively.

Row five comprises Jarno Trulli’s Toyota on one minute, 28.740 seconds, and Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault on one minute, 29.322 seconds.

Star performance of qualifying goes to Anthony Davidson. He beat his Japanese team-mate Takuma Sato by a long margin (Sato will start in P19), so to qualifying his Super Aguri just outside the top ten is a remarkable achievement for the British driver.

Looking at the times between the Ferraris and McLarens, Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix will be very tense for the four drivers as the championship moves into the final six races of the year. Felipe Massa is determined to turn his pole position with race victory, while his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen needs to strike back on else the Finn drops out of contention for the 2007 drivers’ title. As for Lewis Hamilton, he has track advantage over Fernando Alonso so another good result at Istanbul will be a huge benefit towards achieving his dream result of winning his first title in only his first season of Formula One racing. Alonso on the other hand, will want to close down the championship points gap by outracing both his team-mate and the Ferrari pair. It should be a thrilling race!

Starting grid for the Turkish Grand Prix

1. MASSA Ferrari 1:27.329
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1:27.373
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1:27.546
4. ALONSO McLaren 1:27.574
5. KUBICA BMW 1:27.722
6. HEIDFELD BMW 1:28.037
7. KOVALAINEN Renault 1:28.491
8. ROSBERG Williams 1:28.501
9. TRULLI Toyota 1:28.740
10. FISICHELLA Renault 1:29.322
11. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1:28.002
12. WEBBER Red Bull 1:28.013
13. COULTHARD Red Bull 1:28.100
14. BARRICHELLO Honda 1:28.188
15. BUTTON Honda 1:28.220
16. WURZ Williams 1:28.390
17. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1:28.798
18. R SCHUMACHER Toyota 1:28.809
19. SATO Super Aguri 1:28.953
20. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1:29.408
21. SUTIL Spyker 1:29.861
22. YAMAMOTO Spyker 1:31.479

New look to the Apple iMac

Apple iMac 2007

Earlier this month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs reveal the next evolution of the popular desktop computer, the Apple iMac.

The new model features a new aluminium and glass enclosure, replacing the white plastic look.

Personally, I love my ‘old’ iMac as the silver and black colour combination doesn’t work too well. Sure, it looks modern and elegant but it would have been better if the whole computer was either in brushed aluminium or completely black. How cool would that be if Jonathan Ive – the design genius working for Apple – made this?

Despite that, the new 20- and 24-inch iMacs uses the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors and an incredible, ultra-thin keyboard.

The keyboard in particular looks fantastic. I just can’t believe how thin it is and yet feels ever so comfortable to type on. I brought one recently and I am now using it to write this very post! The only criticism will be the Return/Enter key is quite small and the missing Apple button…

But which iMac do I prefer? Well, the glossy glass display looks great when viewing High Definition video clips but in terms of performance, its not a giant leap compared to my current 24-inch ‘Bauer Mac’. Plus I like the classic white look!

Loeb achieves perfect record in Germany

Loeb Rally Germany

Since 2002, only one driver remained unbeatable on the Rallye Deutschland. His name? Sébastien Loeb. His achievement? Winning the event for the sixth time, thereby closing the championship gap to rival Marcus Grönholm to eight points.

Loeb dominated the three-day event with ease and it was fitting that his main championship rival lost track position after losing control in his Ford Focus. Grönholm should have finished in second, but under extreme pressure by the flying Citroen of Francois Duval, the Finn went off in the final stage… Handing the position to Duval.

Grönholm managed to continue in his damaged car and was lucky to finish fourth, behind his Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen.

After crossing the line, Frenchman Loeb expresses his gratitude to Duval for pressuring Grönholm into his error.

“I must say thank you to Francois Duval because he was pushing incredibly hard,” Loeb said.

Duval was equally thrilled with his second place. “I pushed a lot… I’m very happy – after eight months (away) it’s incredible.”

So a great drive by the two Citroen WRC drivers. The championship now heads to New Zealand in two weeks time. Can Sébastien Loeb reduce the points gap further?

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum

The third chapter in the series of the CIA amnesiac super agent that is Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) ends an exciting trilogy inspired by Robert Ludlum’s books. With The Bourne Ultimatum, the trained assassin is trying to piece together his identity and with it, uncover the truth of project Treadstone.

The opening scene follows immediately from The Bourne Supremacy where a wounded Jason Bourne is evading the Moscow police. From there, the action shifts to a relentless pace as he travels around the world looking for the truth behind the CIA operation named Blackbriar, which was first uncovered by a newspaper journalist (Paddy Considine).

The action sequences in London’s Waterloo station – as Bourne directs Considine’s nervous Simon Ross through a crowd of hostile CIA agents – is simply breathtaking. You assume the film has peaked just twenty minutes in, but from here director Paul Greengrass continues to set a dynamic and edgy pace to thrill the viewers throughout the 115-minute running time.

We are also treated with not one, but two exciting car chases and yet, the frenetic foot pursuit across the rooftops of Tangier overshadows both metal-crunching incidents. To see Bourne leaping from building to building – tumbling though opening windows and crashing into living rooms before engaging in a furious fighting scene with Desh Bouksani (Joey Ansah) is truly spectacular.

As for the supporting cast in Ultimatum, Joan Allen makes a welcome return as the CIA investigator Pamela Landy. Working alongside her is David Strathairn, the main villain in the movie. Albert Finney has only a brief role but plays an important part to Bourne’s previous life. As for Julia Stiles, she gets more screen time then the previous two films but her role feels slightly redundant.

Star performances go to director Paul Greengrass and actor Matt Damon, who both exceeded themselves in Ultimatum. From the stylish and quick cut camera work to Damon’s portray as the 21-century killing machine. The Bourne Ultimatum is definitely the best summer film of 2007; not only for its compelling story but also with its impressive action scenes from start to finish.

Ten ways to improve Jack Bauer’s nightmare day

Kiefer Sutherland Rolling Stones

One of my favourite movie website – other than IMDb – is Empire Online. The site recently added a new feature, Empire Blog, and I’ve noticed a post that talks about on how to improve the hit real-time drama that is 24.

Being a fan of the series, I was reading with much interest on how to make the show better. Here is Nick de Semlyen’s blog in full, amusingly written and I must admit some of the points he made are really good, in particular moving the action away from LA and introducing better villains.

The unprecedented lameness of the latest season of 24 has got me thinking about ways the writers can save my favourite show…

1. Stop with the torture. Jack Bauer has now electrocuted, stabbed or injected agonising truth serums into his girlfriend, his brother, 80% of his workmates and the entirety of LA’s Muslim community. It’s not only getting old, but implies that torture is a good thing, especially in that dodgy episode where Jack beat up an amnesty organisation spokesperson.

2. Move the action out of LA. Six seasons, six terrorist conspiracies, and they ALL go down in Los Angeles? Die Hard managed to spice things up by using three different cities — why not take Jack to China, London or Brazil during Mardi Gras? Recent rumblings suggest that this will indeed be the case with Season 7 — though producers nixed moving Bauer to Africa for budgetary reasons, it’s hinted that he’ll spend his next horrible day somewhere on the East Coast.

3. Keep things focused on CTU, or — even better — at some new government agency with all-new characters. Cut all the political crap, which worked when David ‘Gravitas’ Palmer was President, but not with Wayne ‘Soul Grooves’ Palmer in the hot seat. Forget nukes, dirty bombs and White House take-overs. Concentrate on making the story smaller, more intimate, on agents doing some actual agent-work, and their personal stories. Which brings us to…

4. Make the characters cool again. Hands up who misses Tony? Nina? Hell, even twin slimeballs Ryan Chappelle and George Mason were more likeable than the non-entities that passed for major characters in Season 6. Arse-chinned Milo “dropping the pressure” on that Muslim chick was the final indignity. Have the cougar return to eat the whole CTU office and then bring in some great character actors who have more to offer than being young and mildly photogenic. Scary-voiced Powers Boothe was a good start.

5. Kill Jack. A hugely risky move, that might backfire, but it would at least restore some of the show’s dangerous feel from the early days, when it felt like the writers would do anything — and off anyone — in the service of the story. There’s no tension when Jack goes into an operation anymore, because we know he won’t get killed. (He’s actually died at least once already, and been brought back to life). So surprise us – make him actually dead. I was hoping they were setting up Curtis, aka Black Jack, as his replacement, but that’s obviously not going to happen now.

6. Send Bill Buchanan into the field. With a shotgun. Ideally two, strapped to his back, Ash-from-Evil-Dead-style. The Silver Fox has brooded in his office long enough — it’s time to set him loose on the mean streets of LA. Ratings would instantly double.

7. Better bad guys. 24’s most long-standing problem is with its villains. Season 1: Dennis Hopper with dodgy accent. Season 2: can’t even remember. Season 3: Rent-a-Mexicans and well-spoken Brit baddie (so 1990s). Season 4: The bloke from The Mummy. Season 5: Okay, the exception, Logan rocked. Season 6: The bloke from The Mummy’s nephew. Probably. Come on, bring in someone who can give Bauer a run for his money. Like Jet Li!

8. Make the characters get tired. Only Season 1 had a scene where Jack napped for a bit. Since then, there’s been almost no indication that people stop functioning at full capacity after staying up for hours and hours and hours. It would up the tension considerably.

9. Bring back Aaron Pierce! Properly, not in a five-minute scene involving kiwi fruit (shame on you, Season 6 writers!) Preferably with shotguns.

10. Introduce Chuck Norris as Jack’s new partner. This would be the most awesome thing in the history of the universe, and the terrorists would have no chance.

I can imagine Chuck Norris as CTU’s new field agent. He would definitely kick some serious terrorists arse! One point I like to add to this list, make Jack Bauer use blue language. “DAMMIT!” lacks the power compare to full explicit swearing… Jack is truly angry when he loses his cool…

Marcus Grönholm takes record Rally Finland win

Gronholm Rally Finland

After a two-month break, the World Rally Championship returns to the former 1000 Lakes venue and Marcus Grönholm scored his seventh career Rally Finland win.

In fact, it was a dominate performance by the Ford Rally Team as Grönholm and team-mate Mikko Hirvonen finished in first and second.

World champion Sébastien Loeb could only manage third. The Frenchman is now 13 points adrift of the Finn in the championship standings.

Grönholm is the first driver in the modern era of the WRC to win an event seven times.

“When I was a young driver in the 1990s I could never have thought that I would ever win here, but seven times looks very good,” said Grönholm.

“I’m very happy, and it’s nice to get the 10 points here before we head to Germany.”

The epic Loeb versus Grönholm title battle continues on the Rallye Deutschland on August 17th.

Hamilton dismiss qualifying controversy with dominant race victory

Lewis Hamilton Hungary winner

Lewis Hamilton has scored his third Grand Prix victory of the season with a dominant lights-to-flag win at the Hungaroring. Kimi Raikkonen finished in second with Nick Heidfeld in third.

As for Fernando Alonso, who was relegated to sixth after his professional foul during qualifying, recovered to finish in fourth but the spectre of McLaren’s appeal in the constructors’ championship and the fall-out from the qualifying drama will hang over the sport for the rest of the season.

It wasn’t an easy race for Hamilton, as he had to withstand constant pressure from his Ferrari rival. In addition, the British rookie was struggling with a problem with his steering in his McLaren MP4-22 so to stay ahead is still a pretty impressive achievement.

Robert Kubica finished in fifth for BMW-Sauber ahead of Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher – who was leading the frustrated Alonso for most of the 70-lap race.

Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) finished in the remaining points places.

As for Felipe Massa, the Brazilian finished in a frustrating P13, no thanks to a rare error from Ferrari – who forgotten to put fuel in the car in qualifying!

And what a difference a year makes for Jenson Button in the Honda. Winner of the crazy wet-dry race, the British driver struggled with a lack of competitive pace in his ‘earth’ car and was forced to retire with engine failure. As for Rubens Barrichello, the Brazilian finished dead last and two laps down on the leaders…

It wasn’t a thrilling race at the Hungaroring, especially when you consider the last 24 hours of events. The on-going rivalry between the double world champion and his young British rookie is getting out of hand and even McLaren are having difficulty on keeping tabs on the growing tense situation.

The only positive for Ron Dennis – team principal at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – is that Lewis Hamilton still leads the drivers’ standings. He holds a seven-points advantage over Fernando Alonso as Formula One takes a three-week break. This has come at the right time when you consider the recent ‘spy’ scandal and the controversy surrounding the two drivers during qualifying. Formula One needs to focus its attention on the track rather than off-track politics, as this year’s championship has been the most competitive for some time. Hopefully the tense atmosphere will be cleared once racing gets under way in Turkey in late August.

Hungarian Grand Prix, 70 laps

1. HAMILTON McLaren 1h35m52.991s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +0.7s
3. HEIDFELD BMW +43.1s
4. ALONSO McLaren +44.8s
5. KUBICA BMW +47.6s
6. SCHUMACHER Toyota +50.6s
7. ROSBERG Williams +59.1s
8. KOVALAINEN Renault +1m08.1s
9. WEBBER Red Bull +1m16.3s
10. TRULLI Toyota +1 lap
11. COULTHARD Red Bull +1 lap
12. FISICHELLA Renault +1 lap
13. MASSA Ferrari +1 lap
14. WURZ Williams +1 lap
15. SATO Super Aguri +1 lap
16. VETTEL Toro Rosso +1 lap
17. SUTIL Spyker +2 laps
18. BARRICHELLO Honda +2 laps
R. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +28 laps
R. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +29 laps
R. BUTTON Honda +35 laps
R. YAMAMOTO Spyker +66 laps

Fastest lap: RAIKKONEN 1m20.047s (lap 70)

Alonso takes controversial Hungarian Grand Prix pole

Alonso Hungarian GP qualifying

Double world champion Fernando Alonso took a controversial pole position for this Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix by holding up his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the pits.

The British rookie had dominated the first two sessions of qualifying, setting the quickest time in his MP4-22. But come session three – the top ten shootout for pole position – Hamilton was denied the opportunity by his team-mate Alonso.

The Spaniard was the first car to be serviced by his team, fitting new Bridgestone tyres and fuel for the final lap run. Although he was waved out by his McLaren pit crew Alonso remained stationery for several seconds – holding up Hamilton, who was waiting directly behind… By the time the team serviced the second driver, the current championship leader had insufficient time to complete an out lap before the chequered flag.

As for Alonso, he managed to cross the start/finish line with four seconds to spare and recorded his fastest time (1 min. 19.674 secs) to take pole position. It wasn’t sporting but nevertheless, the Spaniard has the track advantage going into the race. The Hungaroring is notorious known as a difficult race circuit to overtake on, due to long corners and lack of straights…

Behind the leading two McLarens is Nick Heidfeld in the BMW-Sauber. The German took advantage by tactical errors from Ferrari, but it remains unclear whether the team is running Heidfeld’s car light on fuel for track position or has genuine pace to challenge the leaders.

Kimi Raikkonen will start in fourth, several places ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa. The Brazilian suffered a nightmare qualifying session. First the team didn’t put enough fuel into his F2007 and then, drove a pretty poor lap in session two. Massa will start the race way down in 14th position.

Nico Rosberg benefited from this strategic error by the Italian team to qualifying fifth in his Williams ahead of Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher.

Robert Kubica will start the race in seventh, with Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber rounding up the final ten places.

As for the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix winner Jenson Button, the Honda driver struggled with a lack of downforce and will start in a disappointing 17th.

So the stage is set for another Fernando versus Lewis battle. With Hamilton unimpressed by the supposedly deliberate hold up in the pits, can he seek revenge by beating his team-mate with race victory? Or will Alonso continue his winning performance following his superb Nurburgring race win two weeks ago? What about Raikkonen? Can the Ice-Man stop the silver cars? As for Massa, he needs to avoid any incidents as he recovers from a low grid position.

Qualifying times from the Hungaroring

1. ALONSO McLaren 1m19.674s
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1m19.781s
3. HEIDFELD BMW 1m20.259s
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m20.410s
5. ROSBERG Williams 1m20.632s
6. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m21.714s
7. KUBICA BMW 1m21.876s
8. FISICHELLA Renault 1m23.079s
9. TRULLI Toyota 1m21.206s
10. WEBBER Red Bull 1m21.256s
11. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m20.718s
12. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m20.779s
13. WURZ Williams 1m20.865s
14. MASSA Ferrari 1m21.021s
15. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m21.127s
16. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m21.993s
17. BUTTON Honda 1m21.737s
18. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m21.877s
19. SATO Super Aguri 1m22.143s
20. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m22.177s
21. SUTIL Spyker 1m22.737s
22. YAMAMOTO Spyker 1m23.774s

UPDATE: The Hungarian Grand Prix stewards are reviewing the incident involving Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton during Saturday’s qualifying.

Alonso took a controversial pole position from team-mate Hamilton after the rookie was unable to complete his final flying lap due to the Spaniard delaying his exit from the pitlane.

The two-time champion was waved to get going by his mechanics, but he stood still for some 10 seconds while Hamilton waited behind him. The delay meant Hamilton was unable to complete his final run in time.

After qualifying, the FIA decided to investigate the incident, and team boss Ron Dennis was called by the stewards.

The stewards also asked to review the radio communications related to that pitstop.

Source: Autosport.com

Well, well. It seems actions might be taken on Alonso. Will he be disqualified or have his qualifying times deleted? One thing for sure, it wasn’t sporting to hold up your team-mate who is causing you so much stress in Formula One this year. Clearly, this is getting personal for the Spaniard as he seeks to gain any advantage over Hamilton…

LATEST: World Champion Fernando Alonso has lost his pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix and will start tomorrow’s race in sixth place.

The race stewards at the Hungaroring have decided to demote the McLaren driver after reviewing evidence from today’s qualifying session, where the Spaniard held up teammate Lewis Hamilton in the pits, causing the Briton to miss out on a final flying lap and possible pole.

Alonso was adamant that he remained stationary for ten seconds because his engineers had told him to, while team boss Ron Dennis told reporters after the session that the incident was a result of Hamilton himself ignoring team orders earlier on in the session, therefore leaving the two drivers out of sequence.

The stewards talked to representatives of the team and reviewed recordings of the car radio transmissions before making their decision, over eight hours after qualifying ended.

The stewards of the Hungarian Grand Prix have also penalised the McLaren team, saying the outfit will not be awarded any constructors points in tomorrow’s race.

This comes along with a five-place demotion for Fernando Alonso, who has lost his pole position and will start tomorrow’s race in sixth place.

The stewards said they did not accept the team’s explanations nor Alonso’s for the incident in today’s qualifying, which saw the Spaniard hold up his teammate Lewis Hamilton, causing the Briton to lose the opportunity to run another flying lap.

McLaren have the right to appeal the stewards’ decision.

Source: Autosport.com

Wow! Not only Alonso loses his pole position but the team won’t be allowed to score championship points in the race… It hasn’t been a good couple of days for Formula One and McLaren – especially with the recent ‘spy’ scandal.