Arrivabene defends Raikkonen over Bottas clash

Maurizio Arrivabene says he considers Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas' controversial final lap collision in the Russian Grand Prix to be a 'racing incident' following his driver's penalty.

Bottas and Raikkonen were disputing third position coming into the last revolution, when the latter made a botched moved into turn four and clipped the right-rear of the Williams ahead. Spinning Bottas into the barriers and out of the race, Raikkonen soldiered on with damage to cross the line fifth.

However, with an aggrieved Bottas venting his frustration at the accident after the race, stewards agreed Raikkonen was at fault and subsequently slapped him with the equivalent of a 10secs stop-go penalty, which was translated as a 30secs post-race time penalty.

Dropping him from fifth to eighth, the penalty subsequently had the knock-on effect of officially ruling Ferrari out of the constructors' reckoning too.

Despite this, Arrivabene stood behind his driver, comparing the incident to Raikkonen's coming together with Daniel Ricciardo in Monaco when the Red Bull driver nudged Raikkonen aside to overtake.

"If you look at Monaco for example, Ricciardo and Kimi was almost the same. It was considered a race incident [then] so I can't find any reason why [this] can't be considered as it was considered in Monaco."

Williams' Rob Smedley saw the accident differently though, airing his frustration at seeing another potential podium scuppered so close to the finish.

"Obviously we are bitterly disappointed to lose what looked like a deserved podium finish on the last lap of the race. The team has done a good job and made the right strategy calls, and both drivers did a fantastic job, so to come away with less points than we should have and no silverware is frustrating."