Onboard gave 'distorted' view of Bottas/Leclerc clash - FIA's Masi

Formula 1 race director Michael Masi says onboard footage of Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc's first lap clash in Hungary offered a 'distorted' view of who was to blame

Bottas was unhappy after the race over what he said was an 'unnecessary' swipe towards him by Leclerc, with the contact having damaged the Finn's front wing and effectively ruined his race.

The incident was looked at by race control but in the end it was decided that neither driver had done anything wrong in the situation.

Masi later explained that it was only an overhead camera shot taken from a helicopter that offered a proper perspective of what happened - and that the indications were that it was Bottas who had moved towards Leclerc.

Asked by Autosport for why it was viewed as a racing incident, Masi said: "There is an element of the first lap side of it, but there is also the other part that, from what I saw, Bottas' front wing hit Charles' rear wheel, looking from the helicopter shot. So, there was nothing in it."

Masi agreed that the onboard footage from Bottas' car made it look like it was Leclerc had moved, but that was not backed up by the overhead camera.

"I think the onboards distort it slightly, but once you get the helicopter shot then it was pretty clear."

Bottas declared after the race that the move was "completely unnecessary" and that it "compromised his race" as he could only recover to eighth after changing the wing.

Leclerc said that he "felt a small touch", but that he "didn't really know what happened".