Grosjean: Vietoris cost me pole

The championship leader had comfortably set the pace in free practice, where he enjoyed a margin of seven tenths of a second over the next fastest driver.

But he had to settle for third on the grid, which he believes was down to Vietoris costing him a significant amount of time on his best lap.

"We had the pace to do pole position, we showed it in practice," said Grosjean. "I think we were three tenths in front, but what can you do if a driver doesn't want to move out of the way when he's on a slow lap?

"I'm very unhappy with Christian Vietoris's behaviour because I would say we lost five tenths in the last sector because of him.

"Christian saw me all the way along the straight, so he had time to let me pass but I had to overtake him at the chicane. This is not fair, not normal."

Grosjean was by no means the only driver affected by traffic during the session, as several cars backed up towards the end of the lap to create space for their own attacks.

Pole-sitter Charles Pic had at least two laps ruined early in the session, while title contender Sam Bird was baulked so badly by Michael Herck that the Coloni driver was given a grid penalty.

"All the drivers are complaining about traffic," said Grosjean. "In GP2 qualifying sometimes it can be a little bit disturbed by one tenth or something.

"But here it was five tenths. There is trouble, and then there are stupid moves."