Mark Webber didn't exactly blame Heikki Kovalainen for his massive accident during the European Grand Prix, but the Red Bull said he was "surprised" by the Lotus man's aggressive defense of his position and early braking point.
Webber crashed into the back of Kovalainen as he attempted to overtake the Lotus following his pit stop. Webber's car clipped the Lotus's right-rear tire and took off at high speed, before rolling and slamming into the tire barriers.
The Australian, unhurt despite the massive impact, declined to directly apportion blame.
"Well, it always takes two to tango, doesn't it? There's two of us in this incident," Webber told Britain's BBC TV. "I've driven slow cars – I've been at the back – and obviously when someone comes up with those kind of closing distances to be down the inside, bouncing off the limiter and carrying on like it is going to... I mean, how long is that [staying ahead] going to last for? It's going to last another 15 seconds so is it worth it?"
He added: "I was looking for the best tow to get the job done and pass him and he was playing quite hard as well down the inside, blocking all of a sudden very aggressively. In the end, the thing that surprised me was how early he braked – that's the thing which caught me out. It didn't matter where I was or how close to the tow, I still had everything under control.
"It was a nasty incident. Clearly, I was surprised by what was happening on the run down to that corner. To start with I thought 'OK, he's letting me go,' because obviously the pace difference is massive and then he [Kovalainen] started closing the door and he's having these small movements and I thought 'where's he going?'
"Yeah, he braked, or lifted or whatever, and it turns out it's about 80 meters before I braked for the previous lap! So, I mean it's a different category to what had happened the previous few laps."