McLaren drivers docked five places

Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have each been moved five places down the grid for blocking rival drivers in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The McLaren pair were investigated by the stewards after qualifying following claims that they had impeded Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso in the closing stages of the session.

The two drivers were driving slowly back to the pits, having completed their final qualifying efforts, while other drivers were still on their fast laps.

Following several hours of deliberation by the stewards about whether or not the McLaren pair had done anything wrong, it was eventually decided that the duo should be punished.

A McLaren spokesman confirmed that the two drivers had been moved back five places each. He also said the team would not appeal the decision.

Hamilton was penalised for blocking Heidfeld, while Kovalainen got his penalty for blocking both the German and Alonso.

It means Kovalainen will now start from eighth place on the grid, with Hamilton one place behind him.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, who was lapping on the track close to the McLarens, said he felt Alonso was hurt more than Heidfeld by the blocking.

"I saw clearly that Alonso's lap was screwed because of, I think, Kovalainen staying on the racing line," he said. "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."

Revised grid:

 1.  Massa         Ferrari          
2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari          
3.  Trulli        Toyota           
4.  Kubica        BMW Sauber       
5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber       
6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault 
7.  Alonso        Renault          
8.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes   *
9.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   *
10.  Glock         Toyota           
11.  Button        Honda            
12.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault 
13.  Piquet        Renault          
14.  Barrichello   Honda            
15.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota  
17.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari
18.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari
19.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda
20.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari
21.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda
22.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota    **

*  Penalised for blocking
** Penalised for his crash in Australia

Ferrari boss unhappy about tyre confusion

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has criticised the Japanese Grand Prix stewards over the misunderstanding that led to the Italian squad not knowing they had to start the race with extreme weather tyres.

Ferrari's drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were forced to pit while the safety car was on track after having started the race with intermediate tyres when the FIA had instructed all teams they had to start with extremes.

The Maranello-based squad blamed a late e-mail for the confusion, saying they hadn't received the notification from the stewards until after the race had started.

Di Montezemolo criticised the stewards' behaviour as unprofessional and said he was expecting an apology from them.

"It was unprofessional behaviour for which I expect them to apologize," di Montezemolo was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Our drivers, in difficult conditions, did a really fine race. Let's see how it goes. Logically I'm not happy about yesterday's result, but I spoke at length with (Jean) Todt: the choice of tyres was a gamble, but it was taken with the premise that Ferrari weren't aware of FIA's decision.

"This is a negative aspect and I expect an apology from the stewards, who acted very badly. Without this order from the FIA, other teams would have started on intermediate tyres.

"I would have preferred a different solution, I'm not happy about this result, but I have the greatest faith in the (Ferrari) men that took those decisions at that point."

Lewis Hamilton will have to thank Ferrari if he wins the Formula One title in China this weekend, according to the Italian team's president Luca di Montezemolo.

"I still think that in the spying affair it was a big mistake not to disqualify the McLaren drivers as well," the Gazzetta dello Sport web site quoted him as saying after Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

"It means that if Hamilton wins the championship, he will also win it thanks to Ferrari because there is a lot of Ferrari in his car."

McLaren were fined $100 million and stripped of all their constructors' points by the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) last month for having Ferrari technical information in their possession.

However, the drivers escaped sanctions because the FIA said they had been granted an amnesty in exchange for providing evidence.

Hamilton, 22, can become the first rookie to win the championship as well as the youngest world champion if he wins this Sunday's penultimate race of the season in Shanghai.

The Briton leads teammate and double world champion Fernando Alonso by 12 points after the Spaniard crashed in Fuji.

Ferrari have won the constructors' championship.

Source - http://www.autosport.com