Kobayashi escapes punishment for Massa crash

Kamui Kobayashi has escaped punishment for the first corner crash which took out Felipe Massa in the Australian Grand Prix.

The start of the race saw Kobayashi lock-up in to Turn 1 and break his right front suspension against the rear of Kimi Raikkonen's car before ploughing in to the back of Massa, leaving both the Caterham and the Williams out of the race.

Kobayashi was the subject of a stewards' investigation after the race for causing a collision. However, it transpired that his Caterham had suffered a brake failure and he therefore escaped punishment.

The reason given by the stewards read: "Having heard from the driver and the technical representatives of the team, and especially reviewing the technical data, the Stewards determine that the incident was cause by a serious technical failure completely outside the control of the driver. The team is directed to work with the FIA Technical Delegate in determining the cause of the systems failure."