"Dangerous" Hulkenberg escapes penalty after Hamilton incident

Hamilton, who had already abandoned one attempt at a flying lap, had to abort for a second time after finding a slow Hulkenberg in his path.

That led to the frustrated Mercedes driver to say "these drivers are dangerous, man" over the team radio.

Hulkenberg was called to the stewards to answer a double charge of impeding and dangerous driving, and they accepted his explanation that he had misjudged the closing speed of the Mercedes.

Their decision noted: "HAM was on a fast lap, HUL on a slow lap and was aware of the approaching car, HUL moved to left as he approached the corner but due to the differing lines taken by the drivers they arrived at the same point on the track.

"Taking the points made by the drivers into consideration and previous incidents of this type the Stewards decided that no further action was necessary."

The Renault driver admitted he had misjudged Hamilton's speed.

"It was just a bit of bad timing, really," Hulkenberg said when asked by Motorsport.com. "Obviously it's quite uphill there. My engineer told me [he was there], and going up, I saw him, but he was quite a long way back.

"I just misjudged a bit how fast and how big the speed difference is, and ended up in the wrong timing and the wrong spot.

"I wanted between nine and 10 to be on the inside, to make his way clear. Just got caught out with the speed difference a bit."

Asked if he had apologised to Hamilton, Hulkenberg joked: "Yeah, I fell on my knees! It just happens, what can I say? I can't disappear, and I won't."