Kimi Raikkonen has claimed that his late overtake on Valtteri Bottas was a good opportunity and not "something completely crazy".
The former world champion was given a 30-second penalty for the incident, which saw the Ferrari driver collide with Bottas before the end of the Russian Grand Prix.
However, Raikkonen has defended his move and has suggested that he did all he could to avoid a collision.
He told reporters: "In the final stages, I tried to overtake Valtteri in the same place I had passed him earlier in the race, I had a good run in turn 3 and in the next one there would have been enough space, so I decided to go for it.
"I don't know if he was not expecting me at all or if he did not see me, but once I decided to go there was no way I could back off.
"I tried to turn inside as much as I could, but there was no way to go and in the end we collided. It is an unfortunate thing for us and them, nobody wants to have an accident even if it's part of racing. It's really a shame, but my move was based on a good chance and not something completely crazy."
Raikkonen's teammate Sebastian Vettel finished second in Sochi.
Chris O'Keefe
