Duval accepts blame for jump start

The ASM driver had dominated practice, qualifying and the first race but it all went wrong on the grid at the start of the second event when his car crept forwards while the red lights were still on.

Although he was stationary when the lights went out, the Race Stewards decided that Duval had jumped the start and handed him a drive-through penalty - which wiped away his early race lead and left him down in sixth at the end.

Speaking to autosport.com after the race, Duval admitted that the car moved forwards when his fingers slipped off a hand-brake lever on the steering wheel.

"We have a handbrake on the steering wheel, but the position of my hands was not good and so I moved them when the first red light was on," said Duval.

"But it slipped from my fingers and the car moved a little bit. I stopped, pulled the handbrake again and did the start normally when the red lights went off. But unfortunately the car had moved when the red lights were on and that is my fault - and only my fault."

Duval's dominant pace, which was proven with his fastest lap being six-tenths quicker than anyone else and almost one second faster than race winner Lucas di Grassi, left him with a chance of recovering to finish on the podium despite his drive-through penalty.

And he even thinks he could have had a shout at victory if a Safety Car period had come earlier in the race - rather than with just two laps to go.

"I think it was possible to win if there was the Safety Car a bit earlier, but just three laps from the end it was impossible to do much better," he said.

"This result is really bad because it was I think the only chance for me. There was just one opportunity for me to do a race with a car like this, and I made a mistake.

"Today while everyone may know I was faster than everybody else, tomorrow it is finished...the winner is Lucas. This is bad, but what am I supposed to do?"