Buemi kicking himself over lost places

Having gained ground at the start and during the safety car pitstops, Buemi could have taken sixth had he not lost out to Sutil mid-race and then Kobayashi's final corner dive on fresh tyres.

"This was not a very good race as I could have finished sixth, but I made two mistakes, which have cost us four points," said Buemi. "I am happy to be in the points, but disappointed to have missed out on the opportunity to do better.

"As for losing seventh place, I knew Kobayashi was closing very quickly on new tyres, and on the penultimate lap I was blocking my front tyres a lot. But at the final corner, I did not think he could brake that late and so I am unhappy that I made the mistake and let him pass."

The Swiss driver is among the nine being investigated for potentially returning to the pits too fast during the safety car period. Buemi admitted that it was possible he had exceeded the permitted speed.

"I found it very hard to slow down, as required by the rules, because the safety car arrived very late as we approached the start/finish line," he said. "Let's wait and see what the stewards will say."