Green disappointed with penalty

The Mercedes driver clipped the rear of Vanina Ickx's car on the straight between turns two and three, and he was given a drive-through penalty after the Audi speared into the barriers.

"I haven't done all the sums yet, but after the first pitstops I was a few seconds behind Gary (Paffett) and in front of Paul (di Resta), so it probably cost me a podium," Green told autosport.com.

The 24-year-old added that it was not a deliberate attempt to get Ickx out of the way, but he said that he could see why the officials might have taken a different view.

"I can understand that on TV it looks bad, and it looks like a really big accident," he said. "But she is quite unpredictable and I didn't expect her to let me past, because she hadn't pitted so we were racing for position at the time."

Green was trying to follow Mike Rockenfeller through out of Turn 2 when he decided to switch to the inside line for the next corner, but he feels that Ickx lifted off to get out of his way as he did so.

"I was on the right hand side, and I knew if I stayed there I would get overtaken by Timo Scheider," he said.

"So I tried to lift off and tuck in behind her to cover the inside and hopefully pass her, but when I lifted off, she lifted off and I clipped her rear corner."

Ickx denied that she was trying to get out of Green's way, and she also said that she was not trying to hinder the Mercedes driver.

"Coming out of Turn 2 I stayed on my line," she told autosport.com. "I didn't even know who it was behind me.

"I saw a car but it happened so quick that I didn't know if it was a Mercedes or an Audi, or if it was a battle for position. Then we touched and that was it."