Planet-F1

Heidfeld happy with stewards' decision

Saturday 22nd March 2008

Nick Heidfeld has, unsurprisingly, welcomed the stewards' decision to penalise Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen five grid places for impeding him during qualifying for the Malaysian GP.

The McLaren duo were adjudged to have 'travelled at a very slow speed on the racing line' and will now start the race from eighth and ninth.

Asked if he was happy with the ruling, Heidfeld told Autosport: "Yeah, of course. I gain two position - it is better than seventh.

"I felt that I was hampered on my fast lap and obviously the stewards felt the same way. I was impeded and I lost laptime, so did Fernando."

For their part, McLaren have accepted the decision, although they remain adamant that neither driver deliberately impeded with Alonso or Heidfeld.

"If you look at the footage, our guys squeezed in as much as they could and slowed and we don't think they impaired Nick," commented CEO Martin Whitmarsh.

"I can understand his view that having all of those cars around when you're trying to concentrate on a quick lap isn't ideal.

"We accept the stewards' decisions, but would like to add that neither Lewis nor Heikki impeded any of their competitors deliberately. It was an unfortunate incident, nothing more, nothing less. We look forward to tomorrow's race."