F1 veteran David Coulthard will start 13th on the grid following a penalty by the race stewards that deemed the Scot “blocked” the onrushing Renault of Heikki Kovalainen.
Coulthard had qualified his Red Bull in tenth, putting him into Q3, but his times were promptly deleted. As a result, Jenson Button was awarded to take part in the Pole Position Shootout, the first time the Briton made it through this season along with his team-mate.
The Red Bull driver felt the lack of communication between himself and team led to his demise.
“I communicate with the team so I know what’s going on with the traffic and apparently there was a misunderstanding and I didn’t get the correct info. But what’s quite clear is that I wasn’t trying to screw his lap, I understand the system around here, it was just a lack of communication.”
His team-mate, Mark Webber, put the Red Bull into an impressive 6th spot and a rueful Coulthard was left wondering what could have been.
“It’s obviously very disappointing because I was progressing well through each of those sessions and was very confident I could get the maximum out of the car.”
Kovalainen was unable to produce a hot lap after the incident and will take his place in 15th alongside the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen on row eight.
