Pedro de la Rosa was heartbroken following his retirement from the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Sauber driver, in his first home race since the 2002 season, was hopeful of a strong performance after starting from 12th position. But at the start of the race de la Rosa was hit by the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi, the Spaniard suffering a puncture to his left-rear tire.
Although he limped to the pits, de la Rosa was later forced to retire because of the damage suffered in the rear of his car.
"To say I'm disappointed is an understatement," an emotional de la Rosa told Spanish television. "Everything was going well but when I arrived at the first corner someone hit my rear tire.
"It's a race incident, but it came at the worst moment because the car was working very well, I was eager, we had the fans... I don't know."
He added: "I would have liked to have done a decent race but all the bottom and the rear of the car broke. I was doing laps to see if I could correct it from inside the cockpit, to try to finish. But the car was undriveable."