Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari insists there was nothing he could do to avoid making contact with Lewis Hamilton during Sunday's Monaco GP.
Having endured a poor weekend, qualifying in 19th spot, the Spaniard was way off the pace in Monaco and with six laps to go found himself amongst Adrian Sutil, Pastor Maldonado, Vitaly Petrov and Lewis Hamilton who were fighting for fifth spot and had lapped the STR man.
As Hamilton passed Petrov, an opportunistic Alguersuari followed him through the gap. However, when the McLaren driver was then forced to break suddenly as Sutil had picked up a puncture and swerved across the track, Alguersuari was unable to stop in time, hitting Hamilton and ending the barriers while Petrov was left with nowhere to go but into the barriers too.
"I seemed to be in traffic all the time, which is normal here, so I was unable to exploit the full potential of the tyres. It was very difficult, or nearly impossible to overtake, so there was not much I could do having started so far back on the grid," the 21-year-old said of his race.
"As for the accident towards the end, I think Sutil had a problem with his rear tyre, so Hamilton braked very hard in front of me and, although I also braked as hard as I could, it was too late - I could not stop and went into him," he explained.
Alguersuari's team-mate, Sebastien Buemi enjoyed a better weekend finishing in tenth spot, his third points scoring finish of the season.
"I started 16th and finished tenth after a very difficult grand prix, because by the end of it, I have to admit I was not too sure where we were in terms of strategy and tyres, with the situation made more complicated by the safety car and the red flag," said the Swiss driver.
"I think we can be happy with our race pace as my lap times were quite good, and to come away from the toughest race of the year with a point is pleasing, especially when you consider our qualifying did not go so well. Now I am looking forward to Canada, where I had a good race last year, finishing eighth," he added.
