had a served a drive-through penalty. On lap 47, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel received a puncture after hitting Karthikeyan's front wing, whilst lapping him and Vettel was forced to pit and replaced the punctured tyre which put Vettel down from 4th place, finishing 11th; Karthikeyan finished the race in 21st, however he was given a 20-second post-race penalty for his part in the collision, which meant he dropped to 22nd and last, behind de la Rosa. Post-race, Vettel and Red Bull boss Christian Horner criticised Karthikeyan's driving, with Vettel calling Karthikeyan an "idiot". Karthikeyan hit back at Vettel, calling him a "cry-baby". Later, Kartikeyan decided to call a truce with Vettel, stating his respect for Vettel's abilities and saying "I think we have to deal with it in a mature way and forget about it." Kartikeyan qualified last for the following five races (bar in Spain where Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying and in Monaco where Sergio Pérez crashed without setting a time) however he started 24th and last twice (in Bahrain and Canada) due to other drivers picking up grid penalties. In China he finished 22nd, ahead of Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen. In Bahrain, he finished 21st and was classified ahead of the Williams of Bruno Senna who retired due to brake issues. In Spain he retired after a wheel nut failure on lap 22 due to a botched pit stop. In Monaco he started 22nd, ahead of Perez and the penalised Pastor Maldonado and finished the race in 15th, classified ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button who retired after collision damage with Kovalainen. In Canada he retired for the second time in the season after suffering a brake failure on lap 22 which made him spin in turn 1 and stop later on in the lap. His teammate Pedro de la Rosa retired with a similar issue two laps later. At the European Grand Prix Karthikeyan for the first time in the season qualified 22nd, ahead of the Marussia of Charles Pic, with Timo Glock missing qualifying and the race due to illness. He finished the race in 18th, behind Pic and de la Rosa but classified ahead of Lewis Hamilton who retired after crashing out with two laps remaining. He finished the next 3 races as the final classified finisher before retiring in Hungary due to broken suspension. He qualified last in Belgium, before running as high as