Di Resta surprised by penalty

"I lost my front wing against Nick Heidfeld at the chicane when he cut across me," said a disappointed di Resta, who went on to finish in 18th pace.

"I was quite surprised to receive a penalty because the incident only really compromised me."

Team-mate Adrian Sutil couldn't protest his drive-through, though, after misjudging Nico Rosberg's pace during one of several safety-car periods and running into the back of his fellow German's Mercedes.

"At the restart I was doing quite well until I got too close to Rosberg when the safety car was out," he said. "All the cars ahead of me slowed down a lot at the hairpin and I just got caught out, which damaged my front wing.

"But the car still felt okay and I didn't lose too much time."

Although they both survived these incidents, neither Sutil nor di Resta would reach the end of the race.

Sutil was caught out when he switched to slick tyres for the first time, admitting it was "maybe a few laps too early" to make the change.

"After the drive-through penalty, I decided it was worth the risk of switching to dry tyres," said Sutil, "but it was maybe a few laps too early. I had quite a big snap on my out lap and touched the wall, which broke the left rear suspension."

A second incident for di Resta, this time as he tried to find a way around the Williams of Rubens Barrichello, ensured his retirement three laps from the end.

"Unfortunately I pushed a bit too hard and clipped the wall, which gave me a puncture," said the Scot, who was still classified 18th and last of the finishers.

Both drivers were supportive of the stewards' decision to halt the race after 25 laps, commenting on the extreme weather surrounding the day's racing.

"The weather conditions were very bad today and given the intensity of the rain it was absolutely the right decision to stop the race," said di Resta.

"There were a lot of rivers running across the track and they were catching people out, even under safety car conditions."

"At the start of the race the visibility was extremely poor and there was very little grip," Sutil added.

Team principal Vijay Mallya summed up the team's disappointment at their result from the weekend.

"This was a very long and eventful afternoon of racing, where we didn't realise our potential," said Mallya. "We had a very quick car and both drivers were competitive, but the circumstances of the race did not go our way."