Narain Karthikeyan has slammed World Champion Sebastian Vettel for the derogatory remarks he made about the HRT man following the Malaysian GP.
The pair were involved in an incident on lap 47 of the race in which Vettel clipped Karthikeyan's front wing while passing him, contact which resulted in a left rear puncture for the German.
After the race Vettel was in no doubt as to whose fault the coming together was, calling Karthikeyan a "cucumber and saying that: "Just like on the normal roads you have some idiots driving around, it seems like there is also one driving here."
The HRT driver has not taken the criticism sitting down though, standing up for himself and accusing Vettel of conduct unbecoming of a double-World Champion.
"For a world champion to say things like that is really shameful," Narain Karthikeyan told the Hindustan Times.
"It is really unprofessional. For a driver who has achieved so much to take out his frustrations on me just because he is having a difficult year is really sad. One does not expect a professional sportsman to be such a cry baby."
Karthikeyan appears to have found support in the form of Force India's Nico Hulkneberg.
"I heard about whatever happened and I also saw it on TV," Hulkenberg is quoted as telling reporters.
"From what I saw, it was not Narain's fault. So, I don't really understand why he said all of that.
"I think Vettel was just emotional at that point of time. He lost out on points, it was frustrating for him and his team. At the end of the day, he is just human and sometimes you get emotional."
The race stewards sided with Vettel though, handing Karthikeyan a 20-second penalty to add on to the end of this race time for causing an avoidable collision.
