McLaren duo receives grid penalty for blocking Heidfeld and Alonso

The McLaren duo, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have each been moved five places down the grid for blocking Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso in their final flying lap during qualifying. This means that Heikki Kovalainen will start from 8th position and team mate Lewis Hamilton from 9th.

After hours of deliberation, the stewards made clear that the McLaren duo should be punished. Hamilton was penalised for blocking Heidfeld as Kovalainen got his penalty for blocking both Heidfeld and Alonso. A McLaren spokesperson confirmed the penalty and declared that the team will not appeal the decision.

Robert Kubica earlier declared to reporters in the Malaysian paddock that he believes that Alonso was hurt more than team mate Heidfeld by the blocking of the McLaren's. "I saw clearly that Alonso's lap was screwed because of, I think, Kovalainen staying on the racing line. Nick was a bit more lucky because his incident was before braking, so he could rejoin the good line. But Alonso, he had to brake inside and he lost for sure there a lot of time. It was quite dangerous."