Lewis Hamilton Rocked By New Storm

Mar 23 2008 By Bill Mcintyre

McLAREN'S hopes of a controversy-free season have already been blown apart after Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were demoted five places on the grid at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa had claimed pole for Ferrari in the 56-lap race in Sepang, due to take place early this morning, with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen alongside him.

But the McLaren pair were expected to push them hard after qualifying third and fourth - until disaster struck.

Both drivers were found by race stewards to have impeded Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso by driving too slowly on the racing line instead of making a final attempt to set a quicker time.

Heidfeld and Alonso had just begun their flying laps and Heidfeld complained to officials.

Hamilton, championship pace-setter after romping to victory in last week's season-opener in Australia, was found guilty of impeding the BMW Sauber driver. Kovalainen was charged with committing the same offence against Renault ace Alonso and the German.

As a result British ace Hamilton was demoted to ninth with Kovalainen one in front.

It's the latest setback to beset McLaren who were dogged by problems last season including the spy scandal and Hamilton's bust-ups with then team-mate Alonso.

A team statement said: "We accept the steward's decision but would like to add neither Lewis nor Heikki impaired anyone deliberately.

"It was an unfortunate incident. We look forward to the race."

The ruling meant Jarno Trulli's Toyota was elevated to third with Robert Kubica fourth and Heidfeld fifth for BMW Sauber.

Alonso also benefited by moving up from ninth to seventh.

Hamilton had felt he was in the clear when he emerged from the meeting with race officials.

He said: "I was pretty much out of the way. If I held Heidfeld up then I apologise for that."

McLaren chief Martin Whitmarsh also defended both his drivers' actions.

He said: "I think the situation arose because of the threat of the weather. Most guys went out a little bit early so cars were out of phase.

"Neither of our drivers did it intentionally and did what they could to squeeze over and allow Nick and Fernando to do their quick laps."

But furious Heidfeld insisted the McLaren pair's actions had cost him third on the grid.

He said: "If they did the best they could they didn't do very well.

"I was approaching my last lap on the option tyre and it would have been my quickest if not for the McLarens driving in the middle at 80kph.

"I lost time. It's pretty dangerous as well. Other cars were moving pretty slowly but they were off line."

The row overshadowed a qualifying session during which Ferrari stitched up the front row of the grid with Massa nearly half a second quicker than team-mate Raikkonen.

In contrast Hamilton, 23, continually locked his brakes and slid around the circuit. He said: "There did not seem to be much grip in the tyres."