Karthikeyan penalized following his collision with Vettel

Narain Karthikeyan received a 20-second penalty for colliding with Sebastian Vettel, which caused a puncture on the German driver’s left rear tire, preventing him from being able to compete for points. Following this incident, the German driver had to return to the pits and ultimately finished 11th, just outside the points.

« I let everyone pass with the blue flags because that was what the team was telling me on the radio. I went onto the white line, which was still wet, and I was on slicks obviously so I skidded a lot. Then, I had to get back on track from the kerb, and he (Vettel) was there unfortunately and I couldn’t do anything, » Karthikeyan told Autosport.

The Indian driver, who was 21st at the finish, ultimately takes the 22nd place following this penalty. He finishes just behind his teammate Pedro de la Rosa. He believes that some drivers are not fair on the track when lapping backmarkers – which often includes HRT drivers: «Sometimes some of these guys, when they lap you, they treat you badly. They arrive and try to push you off to get back on the racing line. For me, the conditions were really bad, the curbs were wet, and unfortunately, this guy was there, so I couldn’t do anything.

Karthikeyan therefore believes he was correct and did what he had to do. He finds the penalty imposed by the stewards to be harsh because he had no other choice: «It’s severe. The curb was wet. I was skidding, and I had to move to the right.»

The HRT driver also admitted that he apologized to Jenson Button following their contact, even though it was the Briton who was at fault and acknowledged it: “I was turning and there was a bang and I’m sorry for Jenson. I didn’t think he would try to overtake here, because you don’t want to stay in their line, and if I had seen him coming, I would have moved over.”