Positions for start of 70-lap race:

1.

2. Kovalainen (McLaren)

3. Massa (Ferrari)

4. Kubica (BMW Sauber)

5. Glock (Toyota)

6. Raikkonen (Ferrari)

7. Alonso (Renault)

8. Webber (Red Bull)

LATEST ACTION (all times BST)

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Join the debate on 606 By Ben Dirs

Lap One: IT'S GO GO GO! Brilliant McLaren keep Kovalainen for 2009 ...
Still a long way to go - Hamilton ...
Alonso fastest in final practice ...
Live - French Grand Prix ...
Live - Turkish GP qualifying ... start from Massa! Bold and aggressive and he's nipped ahead of Hamilton and Kovalainen at the first corner. Massa has a 1.3 second lead over Hamilton after the first lap.

1300: Drivers are out on the formation lap and it's chaos as the teams make their way to the pit lanes. It looks like most drivers are on the harder tyres, indeed everyone apart from Coulthard apparently.

1259: Bourdais has commented on the "poor conditions" at the Hungaroring. Not much grip apparently... rubber goes down...

1255: Round 11 of this year's F1 Championship will get under way in five minutes. Thirty thousand Polish fans have swarmed over the border to support their man Robert Kubica, and there's a fair few Finnish flags flying in the stands as well. Hamilton, taking a leaf out of Michael Schumacher's book, kept the other drivers waiting ahead of today's parade, which smells of the kind of arrogance you need to win the championship.

1244: Sebastian Vettel has just been on the box revealing that he keeps a lucky coin in the laces of his left boot. Makes a change from a rabbit's foot hanging from your mirror. As someone has just aggressively pointed out via text, Alonso's second title was of course won in 2006, not 1996. Why are people so aggressive nowadays? Broken Britain...

1241: Cars are being manouevred into the grid and the brollies are out - it's roasting in Budapest. Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais reckons is "very slippery" on the track today. The Frenchman was relegated five grid places - to 19th - for impeding Nick Heidfeld in qualifying.

1240: The only current driver to have achieved a hat-trick of wins is Alonso, when he was with Renault and on the way to his second title in 1996, just prior to Schumacher's treble.

"Can't see anyone other than Hamilton winning today, unless there's a big incident out there. It'd be nice if Kovy could hold on to his place this week as well. He's surrendered good positions too easily recently and needs to give McLaren a shot at the constructors' championship."
maccabi on 606

1234: Coulthard starts in 13th for Red Bull, while Jenson Button starts in 12th for Honda - which is not bad considering how he's still grappling with what appears to be a 1981 Bedford.

"If Hamilton drives today as he has over the last couple of races, then victory will be his again. Although Ron Dennis said that Heikki can race him, I doubt that will really happen."
ElNano on 606

1230: Good news for Hungarian F1 fans, and indeed Polish fans, who reportedly have snapped up a third of the tickets for this year's race: organisers today signed a new deal with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone to stage the race through to 2016.

1227: Britain's David Coulthard could do with a couple of points today. He's being out-performed by team-mate Mark Webber and has done little since his podium finish in Canada. His pride will be stinging.

1223: Toyota's Timo Glock scored his best qualifying position - fifth - just a day after being cleared to race following a high-speed crash last time out in Hockenheim. A nice little battle-within-a-battle brewing between Toyota, Red Bull and Renault, only two point between the three of them.

"The circuit has favoured drivers who are kind to their tyres in the past, and Hammy is hard on his tyres. It might be closer than some are suggesting."
Croydon Bob on 606

"It's dry and hot here with air temperature of 29C and track temperature of 44C. But there are some clouds around and the pressure is 41%."
From our Radio 5 Live colleagues in Hungary

1211: What will Ferrari come up with today? Hamilton's McLaren has been all over them like a cheap suit in the last two races. Tyre choice will be key today given the heat in Budapest.

1207: Alonso apparently hasn't got over his spat with McLaren honcho Ron Dennis: "If I was racing for McLaren at this moment maybe I would be in the position I am now - without the possibility to win," said Alonso on Thursday. I am unable to confirm what brand of handbag he was carrying at the time.

1205: It was in Hungary that it all kicked off between Hamilton and Alonso last year. During qualifying Alonso was found guilty of impeding his then team-mate Hamilton in the pit lane and was demoted from pole down the field. To Alonso's probable chagrin, Hamilton went on to win the race.

1200: Morning all. To the Hungaroring, where Stevenage's Lewis Hamilton is gunning for his third straight win. He grabbed his fourth pole of the season with a coruscating display in qualifying and a win today would make him the first driver since Michael Schumacher - remember him? - in 2006 to win three Grands Prix in a row and the first Briton since Damon Hill. Gonna happen?

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