Sebastien Buemi has been penalised for causing an accident with Nick Heidfeld at the Nurburgring. He will start five-places lower than he qualifies at the next race in Hungary.
The FIA believe the Swiss driver was at fault after he pushed Heidfeld wide onto the grass, which resulted in the Renault hitting a distance marker, his R31 briefly took to the air before settling in the gravel trap.
Heidfeld said the accident, on his part, was unavoidable as he had nowhere to go but the grass verge.
“I was behind Sébastien Buemi. He 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,” said the German. “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.”
Buemi was earlier exluded from the qualifying results due to a fuel irregularity which saw him start last for the German GP.
