McLaren lament 'unfortunate incident'

McLaren have called the Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying controversy an 'unfortunate incident', after insisting their drivers did not deliberately block their rivals.

Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have each been moved back five places on the grid for blocking Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso during the closing stages of qualifying at Sepang.

And despite accepting the penalty, which hands main rivals Ferrari a golden opportunity to capitalise on their front-row starting positions, McLaren are adamant their drivers did not intentionally try and hinder other competitors.

McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh said: "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."

autosport.com