Kimi Raikkonen escapes penalty for Monaco GP crash incident

The Ferrari driver hit the barriers at the hairpin in wet conditions, breaking his front wing and getting it stuck under his front wheels.

As well as leaving debris on the track as he continued, Raikkonen's ailing car almost put Romain Grosjean into the barriers, and he then drove slowly through the tunnel before stopping at the chicane to retire.

A statement from the race stewards said "with the wing under the front wheel the driver did not have full control of the car".

However, the panel, including ex-F1 racer and Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro, accepted Raikkonen's and Ferrari's explanation for why he did not retire the car sooner.

"The driver, in evidence, stated that he thought initially he could safely proceed to the pits to replace the nose," the stewards added. "Radio messages confirm this.

"The team advised the driver that he needed to stop the car as soon as possible.

"The driver stated that he wanted to stop the car in a safe place and the first available place was the run-off area [after the tunnel]."

Raikkonen added: "The team told me I had to stop but I was in the tunnel at that point already.

"I couldn't stop in the middle of the tunnel so I had to go slowly and park the car wherever I could."

When asked if he saw Grosjean before they almost collided, he said: "Obviously not, that's why I tried to go around the corner but I couldn't because [the wing] got stuck."