Gutierrez frustrated by Sainz defence in Japan

The Mexican driver lost control of his car when he tried to dive down the inside at the chicane on lap 19.

Gutierrez, who says he was actually trying to set up a pass on the following straight, finished the race a frustrated 20th.

"I don't think it was fair from his side," he said. "Because he knew that I was going to go deep, he knew that I was going to go inside.

"I had the space, I had the speed, and he closed the door completely. So obviously I had to turn in as well and brake, otherwise I would have crashed into him."

Gutierrez had a good start and very nearly passed Lewis Hamilton on the run to the first corner, but later he fell down the order.

"We did a really good start, we were happy with the pace. It was going really well at the beginning, and when we pitted, we came out with a lot of traffic. I don't know what went wrong there. I think we could have done a bit better with the strategy.

"I pushed all the way, it was not the ideal position to be in, and then after the blue flags, it seems like everything went wrong.

"We have to keep pushing, we showed very good pace in qualifying, and we have to carry through to the rest of the season. We have to take the positives, it's not really the race we wanted."