Planet-F1

Whitmarsh: It was an unfortunate incident

Sunday 23rd March 2008

McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh insists his drivers didn't deliberately block Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso in qualifying, saying it was an "unfortunate incident."

Both Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton has been docked five-grid slots for Sunday's Malaysian GP after the race stewards found them guilty of impeding other drivers in Q3.

The McLaren duo will therefore start the race P8 and P9 respectively on the grid.

And although McLaren have accepted the decision, Whitmarsh has been quick to point out that the blocking was not intentional.

"We accept the stewards' decisions, but would like to add that neither Lewis nor Heikki impeded any of their competitors deliberately," said Whitmarsh.

"It was an unfortunate incident, nothing more, nothing less. We look forward to tomorrow's race."