Vettel slams fellow driver over collision

SEBASTIAN Vettel blamed a loss of communication and an ignorant Narain Karthikeyan for his Malaysian Grand Prix malaise. For the first time in 27 races Vettel finished a grand prix but failed to pick up a point as he trailed home 11th at the Sepang International Circuit.

In rain-hit conditions, the race was suspended for 51 minutes after nine laps with Vettel initially handicapped by the failure of his in-car radio.

“Crucially we lost radio communication and that makes it very difficult in these conditions to know what’s going on,” said the reigning double world champion.

“Today it was crucial to come in at the right time. Having no radio meant we were delayed getting the messages, and I didn’t hear anything from the team at the end.”

Nevertheless, Vettel was running fourth when he collided with Karthikeyan in his HRT, collecting a rear puncture that dropped him out of the top 10.

“We did our maximum to get up to fourth, but to then lose the race how I did is very frustrating,” added Vettel. “Some people (Karthikeyan) need to look more where they are going.

“There were then problems with the car after the incident, but I wanted to see the chequered flag, even though there were no points for me.

“Before the incident with HRT the way the race unfolded was good for us, so it’s frustrating to lose it like that.”