Romain Grosjean is under investigation from stewards after a clash in qualifying saw him knocked out at the first phase - admitting afterwards that the session had been nothing short of a disaster.

The Frenchman had been on solid form in Saturday practice but then dropped out of qualifying at the first stage when he clashed with the HRT of Pedro de la Rosa.

Following the Spaniard through the final corner, Grosjean placed his car up the inside the HRT only for de la Rosa to take his usual line – with the Lotus driver then losing his front wing when he tagged the rear of de la Rosa's car.

Although he was able to avoid what potentially could have been a huge accident, Grosjean was forced to return slowly to the pits with the front wing lodged underneath his car for almost a full lap before heading back out for one final run in the session.

While be briefly scraped into 17th spot, Daniel Ricciardo then improved to leave the Lotus man out at the first hurdle.

“I was behind him and I'd let him do his flying lap and then as we came onto the straight, I went to the inside and he just didn't see me,” Grosjean told Sky Sports. “I braked to avoid him but we had contact, there was just no space.

"It's a disaster for tomorrow; I don't know what to say. We have to see what happens in the race as the weather could be a bit strange."

De la Rosa meanwhile said he felt Grosjean was to blame for the accident.

"Not much I can say really, I was driving on the only dry lane on the track," he told the BBC. "I was keeping the four wheels on the dry lane and then suddenly I felt someone hit me on the rear left tyre. I don't understand how someone can overtake there."

Stewards are to look into the incident.

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