Paffett gets penalty for Lausitz

The Mercedes driver tagged the back of Premat's Audi at the hairpin on the first lap, leading to both cars having to retire. Paffett was called to the stewards after the race, and penalised for causing an avoidable collision.

"From my perspective it was a racing incident," Paffett told AUTOSPORT. "I was racing with Ralf [Schumacher] down the backstraight, and I didn't quite see Alex because he was on the outside.

"I braked in the same place as Ralf, and when I saw Alex at the last minute I couldn't stop the car enough.

"For me it was the normal Hockenheim first lap incident, you see it all the time there, and obviously it's unfortunate because it destroyed both our races."

Premat added that he felt the collision was a serious one.

"It was a bigger hit than it looked like on TV," said the French driver. "When I got back to the pits, we saw that the roof was bent because of the impact. It's a shame because we had a very good car here."