Gutted Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel glumly took full responsibility for the collision that ruined his and fellow title rival Jenson Button's Belgian Grand Prix, when the pair made contact while contesting second place on the track.
Vettel was jockeying for position behind Button on lap 16 on the run to the Bus Stop chicane, when he lost control of his car on the wet racetrack and slammed into the side of the McLaren.
Button, who had been running second, was out of the race on the spot, but Vettel recovered to the pits. He picked up a drive-through penalty for his actions, after the stewards deemed that he had 'caused a collision'.
And after the race, the German was quick to apologise for the incident.
"First of all, I'm sorry," Vettel said to the BBC after the race, "Obviously it was not my intention to destroy his race or mine.
"I was close, I was faster than him. The moment Robert [Kubica] got close behind I knew that he could pass us on the straight because we are not the fastest on the straight. I was very close a couple of times, unfortunately never really close enough."
He added: "I tried to out-brake him on the outside. When I changed from the inside to the outside, I lost the car under braking on the bump and then I then I couldn't really control it anymore and unfortunately crashed into him."
Vettel began a recovery drive after the incident, but then hit Tonio Liuzzi's Force India and picked up a puncture, which ended his hopes of points after he was forced to complete a whole lap with the punctured tyre.
"I think looking back with the rain at the end we could've still managed to get some decent points," Vettel shrugged glumly, "There were some easy points for us to pick up today - at least second or third. But now we have none for today. Let's see what we can do at the next race."
He added: "I was already past [Liuzzi] and then he destroyed my left rear tyre,. I had all the way to come back - it was probably the worst spot for it to happen, and that was it."
Button, meanwhile, admitted that the crash with Vettel was a "massive blow" to his championship hopes, which saw him drop some 35 points behind his team mate Lewis Hamilton in the points standings.
"I don't know what happened with Sebastian," Button shrugged to TV reporters, "All I felt was a big bang in the sidepod. It ripped the radiator out I think and I lost drive completely.
"It was a very strange incident. I don't know what he was doing really. It's a massive blow - a massive blow. It hurts quite a bit really."
He added: "It was looking really good. I had a good start and had a good fight in wet conditions. I was able to find grip better than other people in wet conditions.
"I had a damaged front wing which meant I had to put maximum front wing angle in the car, which made the rear twitchy but didn't give me any more front really.
"It was tricky to keep them behind, but I was doing a pretty good job I thought. We were going to change the front wing at the stop."
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