Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi has heaped further anger onto the shoulders of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, with the Italian blaming the German driver for the collision between the pair during the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
The contact came on lap 27 of the race when the pair were squabbling over 11th place after Vettel's earlier collision with Jenson Button's McLaren.
Vettel passed Liuzzi into the Bus Stop chicane, but his right rear tyre made contact with Liuzzi's front wing. The Italian was forced to pit for a new nose, while Vettel's race was ruined when he had to complete an entire lap with a puncture from the contact.
And speaking to the SpeedTV website, Liuzzi said that Vettel had been to blame for their collision.
“When he was behind me he was trying left and right,” Liuzzi rambled angrily, “But on the long straights we were faster, so it’s difficult to overtake us.
"Once he braked really late. I just went pretty straight, and when I did the corner he went wide because he wanted to be pretty sure I was not coming back into the left corner. There was no need to do it, because I already gave him the corner."
He went on: “He just did a move for no reason, he was already going right and he went a bit wider, and he touched my nose. I think it was a stupid move from him and he didn’t need to do it, because he was anyway maybe two seconds faster a lap.”
Vettel had apologised after the race for his collision with Button, but was less willing to take responsibility for the Liuzzi contact.
"I was already past him and then he destroyed my left rear tyre," Vettel shrugged, "I had all the way to come back - it was probably the worst spot for [the puncture] to happen, and that was it."
In the end, Liuzzi recovered to take 10th place, after Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari was penalised for cutting a corner to hold onto his position late on in the race.
“Alguersuari cut the chicane and gained two seconds out of me," Liuzzi whined, "I think it was quite clear. We were really strong on the straight and when I overtook him he just carried straight over and gained a lot of time.”
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