Penalised Karthikeyan sorry for Button, Vettel accidents during Malaysian GP

The HRT driver tangled with Button at Turn 9 shortly after the race restart as they battled for position, and then later on tagged Vettel's left rear as he was being lapped in the closing stages.

Although he said he was not to blame for either collision - and Button later took responsibility for his incident - Karthikeyan has expressed regret at what happened.

"The first stage of the race was brilliant," Karthikeyan told AUTOSPORT. "It was a new place for us, and we had never experienced anything like this. Obviously when the race restarted we knew we were going to go backwards, because the car is not so good anyway.

"Then I was turning in, there was a bang and I am sorry for Jenson. I didn't think he would pass there, because you really don't want to get in their way, and if I had seen him coming I would have moved over. But I didn't in the chaos, and I kept continuing.

"Then there was the incident with Vettel. I was letting everyone through on blue flags because I was being told on the radio. I got on the white line, which was still damp, and I was on slicks obviously so I had a lot of wheelspin. I then had to come back on the track from the kerb, and he was there unfortunately and I could not do anything."

Karthikeyan said he spoke to both men to say sorry after the race and, although aware of how costly the tangles could be, he believes backmarkers are sometimes not given enough respect.

"Some of these guys when they lap you, they take the Mickey out of you," he said. "They come and try to push you out of the way to get back on the racing line.

"For me, the conditions were bad, the kerbs were wet and unfortunately this guy was there, so I could not help much."

The Indian was penalised with a post-race drive-through penalty for his collision with Vettel, dropping him behind team-mate Pedro de la Rosa in 22nd place.

"It's harsh," he said of the penalty. "The kerb was wet. I had wheelspin so I had to move right."