Heidfeld hit by penalty

Nick Heidfeld has been hit with a three-place grid penalty after impeding David Coulthard during qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.The BMW Sauber driver was punished after race stewards declared the German had stopped Coulthard from recording a flying lap in Q1.Heidfeld had qualified in sixth for Sunday's race but the decision, which came after an hour of deliberations, has seen him demoted to ninth on the grid.

"I have expressed my opinion about the incident. Now I will try tomorrow to do the best I can from P9," Heidfeld told autosport.com.

The action was taken after Coulthard launched a blistering attack on Heidfeld, claiming his opponent was guilty of 'unsportsmanlike behaviour'.

He said: "He would have known he was in the top ten already, so for me it was very unsportsmanlike behaviour, as all he did was screw up my last flying lap - there wasn't any intention of him doing a quicker time."