Hakkinen hails move on Spengler

The Finn made a good start from second place, and then muscled his way into the lead on the inside at Turn 1.

"The pass at the start was the most important move of the whole race," Hakkinen told autosport.com. "It was brave, it was necessary, and it was fair."

The Mercedes pair both ran wide on the exit of the corner, and Spengler also lost out to Paul di Resta.

However, Hakkinen said that there were no problems between him and Spengler after the race.

"Everything is clear with Bruno," he added. "I think we touched a little bit, but this is the DTM. If he was on the inside he would have done the same."

Spengler eventually had to settle for third, but he was not upset by his teammate's robust pass.

"My start was not great, I made a mistake," he said. "It was very close with Mika but it worked out, and I only lost one more place, so I'm satisfied."