Brazilian GP: Pedro de la Rosa baffled by Romain Grosjean clash

The Lotus driver ran into the back of the HRT as he tried to pass him on the left on the main straight. Grosjean lost his front wing as a result and was knocked out of the session with the 18th quickest time.

De la Rosa's car was damaged in the accident and the Spaniard qualified last. The stewards said the clash would be investigated after qualifying.

The HRT driver said he did not understand what Grosjean was doing.

"After the incident qualifying was over for me, the car was completely bent," de la Rosa told Spanish television. "It's just one of those things you don't understand.

"He could have overtaken me under braking for the first corner. There was no room there. He bent my car, he punctured my tyre and it also affected the DRS, so it was pretty tough qualifying."

De la Rosa felt the incident denied him a shot at challenging the Marussias.

"We'll see if it rains or not, but the car is working pretty well and it's a shame we qualified so badly because we were expecting to fight with the Marussias," he said after ending up last on the grid.

"It wasn't possible, but that's OK, the race is tomorrow."