• Alonso takes pole with Red Bull duo second and third
• Button qualifies in eighth with Hamilton fourth

Felipe Massa is to undergo surgery following his accident in today’s Hungarian grand prix qualifying.

Although word emerged after a chaotic session that Massa was “okay” after being airlifted to a nearby Budapest hospital, Ferrari later confirmed the Brazilian would need an operation.

A statement read: “After the accident during the qualifying session, Felipe was airlifted to the AEK hospital in Budapest. Felipe was conscious at the arrival of the hospital, and his general conditions remain stable.

“Following a complete medical examination, it emerged he had suffered a cut on his forehead, bone damage to his skull and a brain concussion. These conditions need to be operated on after which he will remain under observation in intensive care.”

A Ferrari official confirmed the Brazilian “was hit by something on the helmet, losing control of the car” in the closing stages of the middle 15-minute session. Both team principal Stefano Domenicali and team spokesperson Luca Colajanni later confirmed Massa was out of the event.

The 28-year-old was struck by a piece of debris deposited by Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn GP.

Replays showed a part of the car coming off the Brawn and bouncing along the same area of the Hungaroring track where the drama began for Massa. Massa later caught the debris, on one of his hot laps, which then bounced up, striking his helmet and knocking him unconscious. Massa’s feet must have relaxed at that point, one on the throttle as on-screen graphics showed it remained open, the other on the brake as there were skid marks across the considerable run-off area before he ploughed nose first into a tyre barrier. The fact Massa made no attempt to turn out of the impact appeared to underline the fact he was not conscious as he hurtled into the tyres.

With Massa stricken in the car, photographs later emerged showing a fist-sized dent in his helmet, and with his visor up, there was a large cut over a blackened left eye. Massa was soon attended to by trackside medics before being taken to the circuit’s medical centre, then to hospital for further examination 22 minutes after his crash.

To add to the drama, the timing screens went black towards the end of the top-10 shootout, throwing everybody into confusion as not even the drivers had a clue as to who had taken pole. After several minutes, it finally came through that Fernando Alonso for Renault had taken pole, followed by the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, with Lewis Hamilton fourth for McLaren.

It was the double world champion’s first pole since the Italian Grand Prix in 2007, and the 18th of his career. Explaining the chaos at the end, Alonso said: “We were chatting amongst ourselves in parc ferme trying to find out what happened. It was a fantastic effort from the team. We put in some new parts at the Nurburging [German Grand Prix], and we’ve showed we have made a step forward.”

Behind world champion Hamilton will be Williams’ Nico Rosberg, the second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with championship leader Jenson Button down in eighth. The heat of Budapest was meant to aid Button’s cause after the cool of Britain and Germany had led to Red Bull one-twos in the last two races. But not even the sunshine could come to Button’s aid, and his 21-point lead in the title race threatens to be eroded further at the Hungaroring.

Behind Button are Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima, with Massa 10th as he naturally took no part in the closing 10 minutes, however, he will be in a position to race tomorrow.

In the 15-minute Q2, the biggest loser was Rubens Barrichello, with the Brazilian failing to make it into the top 10 for the first time this season due to the part that broke off his car.

The 37-year-old will start a miserable 13th, with that failure potentially wrecking his championship chances, which could now prompt Brawn into putting all their eggs into Button’s basket.

Although rookie Jaime Alguersuari became the youngest to take part in a Formula One qualifying session, there was no fairytale for the 19-year-old. Alguersuari had run faultlessly through three practice sessions, at least proving he was anything but “a danger” as suggested by triple world champion Niki Lauda.

In qualifying, however, Alguersuari was undermined by an electrical fault that forced him to pull his Toro Rosso off track in the final sector. Come the conclusion of the 20-minute period, Alguersuari sat at the bottom of the timesheets, in many respects where he was expected to finish even if his car had not let him down.

Grid positions after qualifying

1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1min 21.569secs, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:21.607, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:21.741, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:21.839, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:21.890, 6 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:22.095, 7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:22.468, 8 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:22.511, 9 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:22.835, 10 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.002, 11 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:21.082, 12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:21.222, 13 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:21.242, 14 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault 1:21.389, 15 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:21.738, 16 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:21.807, 17 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:21.868, 18 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:21.901, 19 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:22.359. Not racing: 10 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari No time