Sutil was never on course for Monaco points.

Though he may have broken down in tears after being unceremoniously removed from fourth position in the Monaco Grand Prix by reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen, it now appears that even if he had finished the race there, Adrian Sutil would not have scored any points anyway.

Having driven superbly to haul his unfancied Force India machine up into such previously unchartered territory - ahead of Raikkonen, Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello and Heikki Kovalainen no less - the young German was practically inconsolable after his car was harpooned from behind by the Finn's out-of-control Ferrari exiting the tunnel on lap 68, with only eight left to run.

Team owner Vijay Mallya claimed in the aftermath of the race that the incident had cost the Silverstone-based minnows several million dollars in terms of lost points.

Both Mallya and Sutil may be somewhat consoled to hear, however, that even if the latter had gone on to take the chequered flag in a points-scoring position, he would subsequently have been penalised 25 seconds for having overtaken under yellow flags earlier in the grand prix.

As it was, the 25-year-old was reprimanded by stewards for the offence, but had he finished, Swiss newspaper Blick reports, he would have been demoted out of the points for his indiscretion.

"We would have had to give him a 25-second penalty," steward Paul Gutjahr confirmed, "because he overtook three cars under yellow flags after the Alonso-Heidfeld collision at the hairpin."