Giovinazzi and Hulkenberg escape penalty for Bahrain practice clash

The Alfa Romeo car of Giovinazzi went momentarily airborne in the dying seconds of free practice one after colliding with Hulkenberg's Renault at Turn 7.

Giovinazzi had been trying to get past a slowing Hulkenberg - who had just allowed the other Alfa of Kimi Raikkonen through - in the fast sequence of corners in the second sector of the Sakhir track.

The Italian finally moved alongside the Renault at Turn 7, but Hulkenberg turned in for the left-hander and the pair collided.

Neither car sustained any immediately evident damage as both drivers returned to the pits.

They were summoned to the stewards in the aftermath of the session, but escaped punishment, with a ruling of "no further action" announced shortly after the start of second practice.

"The stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from the driver of car #27 (Nico Hulkenberg) and the driver of car #99 (Antonio Giovinazzi) and the team representatives," the stewards' decision read.

"Neither car was on a push lap, car #27 had just let car #7 [Raikkonen] pass, and believed car #99 was going slowly.

"Car #99 then sped up and passed car #27 on the inside line when the driver of car #27 was not expecting it to do so, remaining on the racing line.

"The stewards believe that this was a misunderstanding by the driver of car #27 and a presumption by the driver of car 99."

Hulkenberg had ended the session in eighth place, while Giovinazzi was 16th.