Buemi punished for Heidfeld crash
Monday 25th July 2011
Sebastien Buemi has been handed a five-place grid penalty for next Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Buemi was found guilty by the stewards of causing a collision with Renault's Nick Heidfeld that sent the German crashing out of his home race at the Nurburgring.
Heidfeld was attempting to pass Buemi around the outside of turn nine on lap 10, when the Swiss driver moved over to his right, sending the Renault onto the grass and into an advertising board.
The car was momentarily launched into the air, and although landing on all four wheels, Heidfeld's momentum sent him careering into the a gravel trap and into retirement.
The 34-year-old was left far from happy as he said: "He (Buemi) blocked the left-hand side, as he is allowed to do, but when I went to his right-hand side he just moved over on me.
"He must have known I was there. I had a lot more speed than him and was on my way to pass.
"He just didn't give me any room and pushed me on to the grass and after that there was nothing I could do. It was an accident which couldn't be avoided.
"It's never nice being up in the air in one of these cars, and it could have been dangerous."
Heidfeld had earlier been involved in a lap-one incident with Paul di Resta, running into the Force India driver which resulted in a drive-through penalty that proved irrelevant as it was announced moments after his crash.
Despite a brave effort from Di Resta, the Scot could only finish 13th, missing out on points again for the eighth successive race.
Feeling rightly aggrieved, Di Resta said: "Again it's a frustrating end to my weekend because I had a great chance to score some points today.
"I made a reasonable start, maintained my position and I was racing with Michael (Schumacher) into the first corner.
"Then I got hit from behind which spun me around and compromised my race.
"It's a shame because we came here with a great package and we had a good strategy for the race. I pushed hard to recover, but points were just out of reach today."
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
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