HWA Mercedes-AMG driver Edoardo Mortara was far from happy despite scoring a podium finish at last night’s race at Misano, due to the accidental contact that ended team-mate at HWA Gary Paffett’s race.

It was lap nine of the race and Paffett had pitted a lap earlier for slicks. The Briton then locked his front wheels and went wide at Turn 8, and as he tried to rejoin the track, he encountered Mortara and BMW’s Philipp Eng, who were involved in their own battle.

“I was caught in the middle, and there was no way I could prevent it. It was by no means ideal. That’s why I’m not completely satisfied with how today turned out,” said Mortara after the race.

The collision caused Paffett to suffer a broken steering column, retiring from the race. The stewards looked into the incident and concluded nobody was at fault.

Paffett said after returning to the pits: “Conditions out there were tough today, and I ran wide briefly. I tried to get back on track as quickly as possible and then had a contact with Edo. Unfortunately, my steering got broken in the incident. That was obviously very disappointing for me.”

Paffett’s retirement, together with team-mate Paul di Resta’s pole position and victory yesterday, means that the Briton has seen his championship lead shrunk to just one point ahead of today’s final day of action at Misano.