Formula One: Alonso pole overshadowed by Massa crash

Fernando Alonso claimed his first pole position for nearly two years, but his efforts were overshadowed by a 200kph crash suffered by Ferrari's Felipe Massa at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Brazilian 28-year-old Massa, the world championship runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in 2008, was airlifted to hospital and underwent surgery to repair his skull which was fractured when his car careered off the track. Alonso, the 27-year-old Renault driver, claimed his 18th career pole and said he was thinking only of scoring points for his team in what promises to be a tough 70-lap contest in hot conditions. It was only when Alonso, German Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull team-mate Australian Mark Webber came out to wave to the fans that it appeared confirmed that they were fastest in that order. Several minutes later came confirmation that defending champion Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest for McLaren Mercedes ahead of German Nico Rosberg of Williams and Finn Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren. Another Finn Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari qualified seventh ahead of championship leader Briton Jenson Button in a Brawn GP car with Japanese Kazuki Nakajima ninth for Williams and Massa, who took no part in the top ten shootout, placed 10th.