Nick Heidfeld Dropped, Rubens Barrichello Fined at Singapore Grand Prix

Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello have both been penalised following Saturday's qualifying session in Singapore.

The incident occurred in the first session of qualifying and the stewards decided that the German had blocked Barrichello and prevented him from completing his flying lap of the floodlit circuit.

Heidfeld has been demoted three places on the starting grid and now lines up ninth.

Heidfeld was entering the pits at the end of an in-lap when Barrichello caught up with him and was blocked on the apex of the final left-hander. The pit lane entry and exit have both received criticism because drivers enter and exit on the racing line. In my opinion, most of it isn't Heidfeld's fault.

I think the BMW Sauber team should have been on the radio to Heidfeld, telling him Barrichello was going to catch him and he should move off the racing line. This was certainly Heidfeld's intention, but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The pit lane is my only criticism of Singapore so far. The effort put into building the circuit has been great, but simple things like positioning of the pit lane has to be done correctly.

Veteran Barrichello has been fined 10,000 euro for entering the pit lane incorrectly.

Revised starting grid:

1. Felipe Massa

2. Lewis Hamilton

3. Kimi Raikkonen

4. Robert Kubica

5. Heikki Kovalainen

6. Sebastian Vettel (Up 1 position)

7. Timo Glock (Up 1 position)

8. Nico Rosberg (Up 1 position)

9. Nick Heidfeld (Down 3 positions for impeding Barrichello)

10. Kazuki Nakajima