Hulkenberg and Giovinazzi escape punishment
The stewards will take no further action after the collision between Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi in FP1.
The pair came together at turn seven during the first practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The contact resulted in Giovinazzi’s car briefly leaving the ground, but both drivers were able to safely return to the pits.
After Hulkenberg had allowed the Italian rookie’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen through, footage showed the German colliding with Giovinazzi who had also tried to overtake him through turn seven.
Nico Hulkenberg and Antonio Giovinazzi had a collision at the end of Free Practice (FP1) at Bahrain GP#F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/uNTaPNPj4A
— Eau rouge (@Insidef1) March 29, 2019
However, the stewards ruled that Hulkenberg didn’t expect the youngster to mount an overtaking attempt.
“Neither car was on a push lap, car 27 [Hulkenberg] had just let car seven [Raikkonen] pass, and believed car 99 [Giovinazzi] was going slow. Car 99 then sped up and passed car 27 on the inside when the driver of car 27 was not expecting it to do so, remaining on the racing line.
“The stewards believe that this was a misunderstanding by the driver of car 27 and a presumption by the driver of car 99,” they concluded.
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