Heidfeld Blames de la Rosa for Missing Podium

German Nick Heidfeld was furious at Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa after an accident which the Sauber driver believes cost him a podium at his home Grand Prix today.

Heidfeld, starting from seventh place on the grid, made a good second start after the race was red flagged, but when he arrived at the first chicane Jaguar's de la Rosa missed his braking point completely and hit Heidfeld, destroying both cars.

The Sauber driver was not happy with de la Rosa's driving and said he could have finished on the podium in a race full of retirements.

"In the restart I arrived at the chicane in seventh place with plenty of space ahead of me," Heidfeld explained. "I braked really late and closed right up on Coulthard, and then suddenly de la Rosa crashed into the back of me. I really don't know where he thought he was going. Having seen the race, I feel confident we could have been on the podium."

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen was also driving a promising race at the Hockenheim circuit, but the Finn's car was hit by mechanical problems and had to retire while he was running in sixth place.

"My car was running perfectly and we clearly had the ideal strategy," said Raikkonen. "Sixth place was easy to maintain, and of course we could have been in contention for the final podium position, but without warning a drive shaft broke on the 16th lap. I made it to the pits, but there was nothing that could be done."