Valtteri Bottas accepts blame for crash during German Grand Prix practice

The Williams test driver lost the rear end of his car under braking for the Sachs Kurve, which spun him round and into the barriers.

Williams managed to get the car ready for Bruno Senna to get a full session of running in the afternoon, and Bottas later admitted that he had been to blame for the incident.

"After it happened I was not really sure if it was my mistake or something on the car," said the reigning GP3 champion. "But we've had a good look at the data and it was a combination of things.

"I braked a bit too hard, my brake bias was a little too much towards the rear, and I had gone a bit wide on the damp in the previous corner. It was my mistake."

Bottas added that he hopes he can learn from his error and make sure that the rest of his Friday running goes well this year.

"It was a good day for learning, but I'm sorry for the mechanics," he said. "Of course I would like to aim for perfection and not to do any mistakes. But I think everyone knew that at some point you are going to go off.

"We are all humans and we make mistakes. I just need to minimise those. That was my first mistake this season, and I hope it is my last as well."