Hakkinen OK with Rockenfeller

The Audi driver muscled his way past Hakkinen to take third place in the closing laps of the race, and the pair made contact through turn two, resulting in Rockenfeller losing some bodywork.

Hakkinen then had to return to the pits slowly with a puncture, which cost him any chance of points after he had started the race on pole.

Mercedes motorsport boss Haug told autosport.com: "I have no problem with the actions of Rockenfeller. It was a racing accident."

Hakkinen agreed that Rockenfeller had done nothing wrong, and the Finn even applauded the desire of the rookie to find a way through after their race-long battle.

"Of course I am not happy to lose a podium finish due to a racing accident," he said. "That's not to be criticised, though, so well done."

Rockenfeller added that he felt the move was fair, and he believes that a little bit of contact is not always a bad thing for the spectacle of the series.

"I think that is what people want to see," he said. "I was fighting hard with Mika, but it was hard and fair.

"At Turn 2 he was always going wide but usually not enough for me to get through. It's too bad that we tangled."