• Bahrain Grand Prix

No penalties for Rosberg's moves on Alonso and Hamilton

Nico Rosberg was involved in incidents with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Nico Rosberg has escaped penalties for the two incidents involving Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

In both cases Rosberg attempted to defend his position coming out of turn three by blocking off the inside line on the straight heading down to turn four. Against Hamilton he moved all the way across the track until the McLaren had all four wheels off the circuit but lost the position anyway. Against Alonso he did the same, but the Ferrari switched to the outside and failed to pass into turn four.

After the race Alonso said: "As for the incident with Rosberg, I can only say that if, instead of such a wide run-off area there had been a wall, I'm not sure I'd be here now to talk about it."

But after reviewing evidence in the presence of representatives from the teams the stewards deemed both incidents to be within the regulations.

In regards to the Hamilton incident, the stewards gave the following reasoning:

1. The driver of Car 8 [Rosberg] commenced his move to the right after the exit from T3 and moved to the right in a constant and continuous straight line manner, not making any sudden movements (as evidenced by telemetry and video evidence) and;
2. At the time he commenced his move, Car 4 [Hamilton] was behind him and no part of his car was alongside Car 8 and;
3. The driver of Car 8 made the move to the right prior to the driver of Car 4 making the same move and;
4. For more than half of the distance travelled by Car 8 in moving in a straight line towards the right hand edge of the track, Car 4 remained behind Car 8 and;
5. Because the delta speed between the two cars was quite significant it was difficult for Car 8 to detect the exact position of Car 4 in relation to his own car;
6. Had a significant portion of Car 4 been alongside that of Car 8 whilst Car 4 still remained within the confines of the track, then the actions of Car 8 may not have been considered legitimate.

In regards to the Alonso incident, the stewards issued the same first five reasons as well as the following: 6. "No part of Car 5 [Alonso] was alongside that of Car 8."

Alonso responded to the decision via Twitter: "I think you are going to have fun in future races! You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy! ;)))"

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.