McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have been penalised five grid places for impeding rivals during qualifying at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The pair had been on the second row but Hamilton will now start in ninth, one place behind his Finnish team-mate.

After qualifying they were summoned by the stewards to answer complaints they held others up in the last session.

Lewis secured Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ second consecutive victory in the Monaco Grand Prix, Formula 1s most prestigious race, but the rain made things a touch less straightforward for the team this time…
"Absolutely. Saturday was a slightly flat day for us, because we thought we’d put enough fuel in the car to get pole position, but it wasn’t to be. That was tough, but we knew we had two good drivers and a reasonably quick car. We were hopeful, but we knew it would be a difficult race. We just didn’t realise quite how difficult."

Lewis made an unscheduled pit stop on lap six, after glancing the barriers at Tabac. Did you really believe the race was still winnable from there?
"Definitely. He had made a great start and the incident, unfortunate though it was, only dropped him from second to fifth. We could see how quickly he was lapping in the damp conditions and we knew how much fuel we had just put in the car. We felt we’d be in a strong position at the end of the race - and there was always the possibility of a Safety Car period or two, to mix things up."

How pleased were you with the team’s response to that early setback?
"I believe we dealt with the situation very well. We put in a reasonably heavy fuel load, but despite the weight penalty Lewis maintained a really quick pace - a vital factor at that stage of the race. He did a terrific job. Conditions were exceptionally difficult but he didn’t commit any other errors and the team made the right calls at the right time. We’re delighted with the outcome."

Did the accident do you a favour, in a strange sort of way, in that the evolving conditions actually suited the strategy you adopted?
"We were dealt a card and I think we played it well. We were put in a particular situation and managed to make it work to our advantage."

Had the race run conventionally, in dry conditions with no interruptions, when would you have brought Lewis in for his first stop?
"We don’t want to show our hand, but we were confident we’d have the pace to get him ahead of Ferrari at the first stop. It would have been difficult, but it became hypothetical because circumstances eventually dictated that this wouldn’t be an ordinary race."

Lewis still had plenty of fuel on board when he made his second stop on lap 54. Why did you bring him in early?
"We were slightly anxious because we wanted to cover him against the potential risk of a Safety Car. People were starting to switch to dries and conditions were still very slippery, so the chances of an accident were quite high, but it was clear that dry tyres were the way to go. That’s why we called him in when we did and it was the right thing to do."

The second Safety Car period lasted several laps, which must have caused tyre temperatures to drop significantly, yet Lewis set a personal best on his first flying lap after the restart. That was quite impressive.
"It was. Both Lewis and Heikki have plenty of experience, from karting upwards, and are used to dealing with fluctuating conditions. I also think Lewis is particularly good at dealing with Safety Car restarts. He did a great job."

Lewis’s victory will doubtless dominate the headlines, but Heikki Kovalainen coped well once again with adversity.
"He did, yes. Just before the start he lost control of his clutch - it was probably a software glitch with the monitor that was plugged into the car, but we need to investigate that. We changed the steering wheel, reset the system and got him going, but Heikki was very unlucky because he subsequently spent much of his race in traffic. On a clear road, though, he showed how quick he can be around here."

What happened during the second Safety Car period? He seemed to lose out there, too.
"He was one lap down, behind Adrian Sutil, and we asked the FIA whether he was allowed to pass Adrian and make up the lost lap, as the rules permit. He was eventually cleared to pass, but the race then restarted while he was still in no man’s land. He carried on pushing, though, and scored a valuable point, so despite everything he did a fantastic job."

He was particularly quick at the end and set the second fastest lap of the race. "That’s all the more commendable because it’s not always easy to maintain your focus and motivation if you are just scrapping for the odd point. His attitude was fantastic."

We are one third of the way through the 2008 season and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has scored two wins to Ferrari’s four. How do you assess the state of play?
"It looks as though the title will probably be a race between Ferrari and ourselves, although I still wouldn’t discount BMW and others. We’ll just carry on trying to improve the car between now and the end of the year. If we can progress at a better rate than Ferrari we’ll win the championship, and vice versa. Aside from the events every fortnight there’s a race between races to develop the car."

You recently did some preparatory testing for the next race, in Canada. How did that go?
"We ran for one day at Le Castellet in France, and it was a productive exercise. Braking and straight-line speeds are critical factors in Canada and we’ve been focusing on those areas. This year our car has excelled in sweeping, high-speed corners: Montreal hasn’t got any of those, but we have done very well there before and I’m confident we’ll be very strong again."

lewis really did a good job in the race, hopefully kubica is smart enough to block kimi from chasing up...

Lewis Hamilton said his title challenge was still on track after a second consecutive run-in with race officials left him out of the points in France.

The McLaren driver is 10 points behind leader Felipe Massa after finishing 10th on Sunday following a drive-through penalty for illegal overtaking.

"There's nothing you can do that can distract me," Hamilton said.

"You can keep on giving me penalties, whatever you want. I'll keep battling,

and trying to come back with a result."

Hamilton was penalised because he was deemed to have cut a chicane when he passed Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel on the first lap of the race.

The rules dictate that a driver is not allowed to gain an advantage by going off the track.

It was the second consecutive race in which the 23-year-old had fallen foul of the race stewards - he started the French race with a 10-place grid penalty for crashing into Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in Canada two weeks ago.

Hamilton has been upset by some of the newspaper coverage of the incident in Montreal, and made his frustration clear following the race in France on Sunday.


I have absolutely no doubts. I don't care how far I am behind, I'll come back

Lewis Hamilton
"I absolutely 100% aim on bouncing back [at Silverstone]," he said.

"Regardless of what's written in the papers tomorrow, I'm going to go back to the workshop and push with the team and we're going to focus on the next race and we're going to hit 'em hard."

Asked by BBC 5 Live's pit lane reporter Holly Samos if he felt angry, Hamilton said: "I feel cool. It's all good. Racing's racing. I'm still here. There's nothing you can do to get me out of here.

"I'm going to keep battling. There's a long way to go. I have absolutely no doubts. I don't care how far I am behind.

"Kimi was 17 points behind with two races to go last year and he still won. Twenty points behind. I don't care. I'll still come back."

Hamilton made it clear he felt he should not have been penalised in Sunday's race.

"I thought I overtook reasonably fairly into turn seven," he said.

"Going in I was ahead but I lost the back end and corrected it and went over the kerb, which I don't particularly see as cheating or anything like that but those are the rules.

"I don't think I did anything. I believe I was ahead on the outside.

"I couldn't turn in on the guy, or we would have crashed, so I took the outside line, lost the back on the marbles and went over the kerb and continued.

"I don't believe I overtook him by going over the kerb, I overtook him before that.

"I did everything I needed to do. I stayed out of trouble and drove what I thought was a fair race. We just missed the points.

"That's three races now without scoring points but there's 10 races to go."

Hamilton was backed by McLaren boss Ron Dennis.

"I don't think he gained a position by being off the road," said Dennis.

"It is our opinion he was past before he got squeezed off the circuit. No position was gained. There's nothing to be gained from saying anything else."

go go hamilton
it is ur home GP

wonderful race le..so many cars spinned..haha..
nice win hamilton