Alguersuari loses Spa point

Scuderia Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari has lost his tenth place finish at the F1 2010 Belgian Grand Prix after he was penalised post-race.

A statement from the stewards confirmed that he has been handed a 20-second penalty for cutting the final chicane, while battling for position with Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi. The incident occurred two laps from the end.

Speaking prior to news of his penalty, which dropped him down to 13th, one spot behind his team-mate, Sebastien Buemi, Alguersuari had been happy to take what was only his third points finish of the season.

"I have had a good weekend and already I was happy with my performance in qualifying yesterday while today, I had the most exciting race of my career," he said. "It was very difficult to make the right call on tyre choice.

"I think that within our team's potential, today's performance was not too bad and I am delighted to have picked up another point. I can't wait for the Italian Grand Prix now and the chance to put on a good show for all the people from our factory who will be there to watch the race."

Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost had also been pleased: "A fantastic F1 race from start to finish, with some great battles throughout the field and then, as usual in Spa, the rain played its part, coming and going, causing some interesting scenarios.

"Both our drivers made a good start, but unfortunately, Buemi was hit by someone which damaged his left rear tyre and he had to pit and then he lost more time coming in for the intermediate tyres. We assume that the collision also damaged his floor, which compromised his performance for the rest of the race.

"Jaime drove a good race, however his first stop for intermediates was unnecessary, but everyone can be clever with hindsight. Without this extra visit to the pits, he could have finished higher up the order, securing a really good result, because his pace was fantastic, with good lap times.

"In the closing stages, he also did a very good job of defending his position against Liuzzi, who had the advantage of being on extreme rain tyres, while Jaime was on the intermediates. It is very nice to pick up a point, generally our performance level was not bad, so now let's see what we can do now at our home race in Monza."