Alguersuari: Buemi hit Heidfeld, not me!

Jaime Alguersuari has said his team-mate Sebastien Buemi was the one who was guilty of running into Nick Heidfeld in Sunday's F1 2011 opener in Australia, as pressure mounts on both of Toro Rosso men to justify their place at the pinnacle of the sport.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has made no secret of the fact that Alguersuari and Buemi face competition for their seats from reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo and the two are now doing everything they can to try and ensure they are not the one to get the boot.

Indeed after only finishing 13th and also having collided with Michael Schumacher, Alguersuari has refused to take the blame for running into Nick Heidfeld.

"I hit with Schumacher, but for Heidfeld I am not responsible," Alguersuari told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "I was right behind and saw exactly what happened. Seb [Buemi - my team-mate] was in corner ten fighting with the Renault and he hit him at corner 11."

Alguersuari's comments come in the wake of criticism from Buemi after the two touched on the opening lap.

"It's not too bad finishing tenth, after making it to Q3," Buemi said after the race, "but I think I could have done better, maybe an eighth or ninth place was possible.

"It's a shame that my team-mate and I made contact at the first corner. It's not the first time it has happened, so I think we will be having a chat about it after I've watched a recording of the incident!"

Heidfeld meanwhile, who had an awful weekend and who only finished 12th after his car was quite severely damaged on the opening lap, wasn't sure which of the Toro Rosso's was responsible.

Furthermore with the incident not caught by the TV cameras it seems it will remain a mystery.

"I would definitely have scored some points, but a Toro Rosso hit me in turns 10 and 11 and I lost 1.5 seconds every lap [after that]," said Heidfeld.

Renault team boss Eric Boullier added: "Nick lost KERS and the balance was affected [after the impact]."