Fisichella blasts 'unprofessional' Villeneuve

Giancarlo Fisichella labelled Jacques Villeneuve “unprofessional” after claiming the former world champion’s bad driving has cost him any chance of winning the European Grand Prix.

Renault driver Fisichella missed the cut in second qualifying and will start from 11th, but he blamed Villeneuve for his failure.

He accused the BMW-Sauber driver of holding him up on his flying lap and stormed down the pit lane to vow revenge on the Canadian.

Fisichella said: “I am upset. It was unacceptable. He is a world champion, a professional driver, he knows how much we lose when we are behind another car, you lose a lot of grip.

“It is unacceptable even more because he was on his out lap.

“He told the stewards he had started to see me at turn eight, which is already late because he saw me for sure earlier than that. There was an opportunity to let me pass and he didn’t.

“I am really disappointed and angry. We have to respect the rules. There is an accord between drivers, we have to respect that and he didn’t.

“My team-mate is on pole so I could have been second, third, fourth. There was a possibility to win and now I have lost even the possibility to be on the podium.

“What he did was very unprofessional.”

Villeneuve, however, was defiant and insisted he had not deliberately impeded Fisichella.

The 36-year-old came in for a finger-pointing attack from a furious Fisichella in the pits immediately after the incident but he pleaded his innocence.

He said: “He was very angry, he told me I will have to pay for it one day.

“Maybe I slowed him down but I never realised he was that close to me. I didn’t do it on purpose.”