Prost gets grid penalty for Formula E crash

Nicolas Prost has been given a 10-place grid penalty for the next round of the Formula E Championship following his accident with Nick Heidfeld in the series opener in Beijing (video below).

Prost, who had led the majority of the race in his e.dams Spark-Renault SRT_01E electric racer, was penalized for "causing an accident" with Heidfeld's Venturi entry, which flew into the barriers at the final corner after they tangled on the last lap.

• Beijing Formula E race report

The Frenchman will drop 10 places from his qualifying position when the championship resumes on the streets of the Malaysian city of Putrajaya at the end of November. That did little to satisfy Heidfeld, however.

"It doesn't help me. It would have been amazing to come away from the first Formula E race with a victory, but instead we are leaving with nothing except a damaged car," he fumed.

"I had been saving power and got a really good run out of the second to last corner; I was better on braking for the last corner and he braked early anyway. I was next to him and he moved over on me. That is clear, but he is a friend of mine [and teammate at the Rebellion Racing World Endurance Championship squad], so I know he didn't do it on purpose."

Prost, meanwhile, accused Heidfeld of "totally overcooking it."

"The speed of the impact [with the wall] shows that he was going too fast," he said. "I was just starting to turn in at that point and he tried to dive-bomb me."

Originally on Autosport.com