Coulthard penalized, criticized, for blocking

Although it was expected that David Coulthard's qualifying penalty had simply dropped him out of the top ten, the Scot will actually start the Monaco GP from sixteenth after his 'Q2' times were also deleted.

The Red Bull driver professed his innocence after blocking Renault's Heikki Kovalainen on a hot lap — an indiscretion that did not impress the stewards.

"There was a message from the team, and I clearly didn't get the correct information," Scot Coulthard told ITV.

Renault's furious Pat Symonds called it "unbelievable" that one of F1's most experienced drivers fell foul of the blue flags, and the team's post-session document slammed Coulthard for blocking Finn Kovalainen "for almost an entire lap".

"It is a shame that the oldest driver in the field, and the one who is most voluble about problems with traffic, was unable to adhere to his own principles," Symonds said.

Kovalainen will start the race from fourteenth, and said of the incident: "He just stayed there all the way round, and ruined the lap; to say the least, I was very surprised to see that from the most experienced driver in the field."

For the record, Rubens Barrichello is actually the most experienced driver in F1 today; Coulthard, at 36, is the oldest.