Martin Brundle has revealed Kimi Raikkonen escaped a penalty for passing under yellow flags as he began his move before the prohibited zone.
Martin Brundle confirms Raikkonen overtake wasn't missed by Valencia race stewards
Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen escaped a penalty for what had appeared an illegal pass under yellow flags in the European Grand Prix because he was deeemd to have started his move before the caution zone,
Sky Sports F1 analyst Martin Brundle has revealed.
There was some confusion in the early laps after the Safety Car mid-way through Sunday's epic Valencia race when McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was put under investigation by race control when TV replays appeared to show that it was Raikkonen who had seemingly transgressed by overtaking
Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo while double yellow flags were waved as marshals cleared away Sebastian Vettel's stricken Red Bull.
While Hamilton was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, Raikkonen was at no stage ever officially put under investigation. However, speaking on
Sky Sports F1 as the the meaty bones were picked out of a race full of incident, Brundle confirmed that Raikkonen's move hadn't gone unnoticed but that the TV pictures hadn't shown the full picture of what had actually happened.
"The stewards did see that Kimi Raikkonen overtook under the yellows - or could possibly have done - but when they looked at it they said he made the move before he got to the first yellow flags and the long camera angle didn't quite tell the true story," explained Martin.
After escaping any kind of punishment, Raikkonen took advantage of a retirement for team-mate Romain Grosjean and a late pass on an ailing Hamilton to finish second to Fernando Alonso.
Lotus had been many pundits' outside tip to win after qualifying in fourth and fifth and Raikkonen reckons could have beaten the Ferrari but for a difficult opening lap and a mistake at the re-start.
"I think I had a good start but got blocked by Maldonado in the first kink and I had to back off otherwise we would have had an accident. So lost quite a few places and after that the race got a bit more difficult for us. But in the end we could get some places back," the Finn told
Sky Sports F1.
"I thought I had a good car but I actually made a mistake after the re-start in the first lap so Hamilton got past me. If we could have been in front of him I think we would have had a good chance but it's one of those things, you make a mistake and you pay the price. So we have to try to get rid of those."
However, Raikkonen conceded Lotus's race pace had probably been a little faster at some other venues so far this season, adding: "Today was not so close. We've been closer, but I think if everything had gone exactly right, like the start... it would have definitely made it more easy. But I think if we get things running exactly right we definitely have the speed."
