SEPANG, Malaysia, March 22, 2008 (AFP) - German Nick Heidfeld hit out on Friday at both McLaren Mercedes-Benz drivers for obstructing his fastest qualifying lap and costing him a top-four grid position.

The 30-year-old German said he was on a late flying lap in his BMW when there were several cars out on ´slowing down´ laps and he complained that they were right in the middle of his racing line.

"Most of the cars were already very slow when I was on my flying lap, just like they were parked on the circuit," he said. "Both of the McLarens were in front at turn four, in the middle of the racing line.

"I could not be on the line that I wanted and I lost some time there. If you look at the times, they were very, very close - I lost two tenths and I think that would have put me third.

"But what can you do now?"

Heidfeld, who finished up seventh, said he had complained to his team about the incident as it happened, using the radio. He said he did not know if a formal complaint in protest would follow.

"We reported it on the radio, and from my point of view it was not correct what they did," he said.

"I just couldn´t drive on the line that I wanted and, even more importantly, I could not brake where I wanted to."

Heidfeld´s BMW team-mate Pole Robert Kubica was sixth in qualifying, but said he had gone for a race set-up for his car and felt positive about Sunday´s contest.

"I was just missing a little bit to get on the second row of the grid and the unpredictable weather added a bit of a thrill in qualifying this time," he said.

"With the set-up that I chose, I knew that qualifying would not be easy for me, but over the weekend we have put a lot of effort into the race preparation, so I am optimistic."

The team´s racing chief Mario Theissen said: "It was extremely tight. From P3, there were five cars within only fifteen-hundredths of a second and in this group we missed out on a bit of luck."

Technical director Willy Rampf pointed out: "This result has made us the only team to have made it into the top ten of qualifying with cars for the 20th time since the end of 2006.

"That shows the consistency of our team and only missed better positions today here by a blink of an eye."