Nick Heidfeld has found himself demoted on the grid ahead of this weekend's inaugural Singapore Grand Prix night race – after getting in the way of Rubens Barrichello during qualifying.

The controversial pit-lane entry – slammed as 'incredibly dangerous' by Scuderia Toro Rosso's Sébastien Bourdais, being as it is on the racing line [see separate story – click here] – caught out the experienced pair during the initial phase of the session, with Barrichello visibly annoyed as he came around the final corners to complete his flying lap, only to find Heidfeld touring slowly into the pit-lane.

That forced the Brazilian to abort his effort, and he would ultimately miss out on making it through to Q2 by just over half a second. In abandoning his lap, however, the Honda star also cut across the pit entry line.

After both drivers were subsequently summoned to appear before race stewards about the matter, BMW-Sauber's Heidfeld was penalised three grid positions down to ninth place – promoting Sebastian Vettel to sixth, Timo Glock to seventh and Nico Rosberg to eighth respectively – whilst Barrichello was meted out a €10,000 fine for his misdemeanour.