Today’s qualifying for the Hungarian GP was marred by a horrific accident suffered by Felipe Massa. He was hit in the head by what appears to be a spring from another car, lost control of his car, and went straight off the circuit. He has some sort of skull fracture, and is in hospital. Reports are conflicting as to how serious the injury is, and it does seem that it may be slightly worse than first thought. It’s also worrying coming a week after the sad death of Henry Surtees, whose death occurred after he was hit by a wheel from another car during a F2 race at Brands Hatch. Such bad luck to have two serious accidents caused in a similar manner so close together, and does start to make one wonder if there is some way of preventing them. Thoughts are with Massa and his family tonight.

The session itself finished with Alonso on pole, and massed confusion when the timing failed. Drivers had to swap times when they got out of their cars, which resulted in Jensen Button asking Alonso what his time was on live tv, and exclaiming “Fucking Hell” when he realised how quick he’d been. Will be interesting to see if Alonso can hold on, but he has been fueled very light.