Hamilton on Vettel clash: ‘It was a racing move’

Lewis Hamilton insists he left Formula 1 title rival Sebastian Vettel enough space as the pair collided on the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix.

Having remained in third after the first chicane, Hamilton tucked in behind Vettel and placed his Mercedes car on the outside line on entry into the Variante della Roggia as the pair made contact, sending Vettel spinning.

While the Monza stewards opted to take no further action over the incident following an initial investigation, Vettel pointed the finger at Hamilton for failing to leave sufficient room but the Briton was convinced he had done no wrong.

When asked for his reaction to Vettel’s comments about the move, Hamilton said: “Well it worked. I think it was a racing move. It was pretty much the same manoeuvre that Kimi did to me. I don’t really know what to say. It was a racing manoeuvre and that’s what we are supposed to be doing out there.

“I left him space, I was still on track. But I’m sure it was a comment that was done in the heat of the moment and its never a great moment when you spin and you have cars coming towards you.

“Then you get back up and you have to come back through. I don’t take anything from it and I know how it is to be in that emotion and I’m sure he didn’t really mean to much by it.”

“It was intense and I was surprised Seb chose the inside and not go through the outside of Kimi and that was my opportunity,” he added. “I’m guessing he may be locked up, I don’t know, we touched it was a brief moment, damaged the car a little bit but I was able to continue.”

Vettel fell to the back of the field and fought his way up the order to finish fourth, while Hamilton shadowed Raikkonen throughout before passing him to seal victory and extend his championship lead to 30 points.

Hamilton said he enjoyed an “awesome” and “fair” battle with Raikkonen, which saw the pair trade places early following the Safety Car restart, before Hamilton pulled off the race-winning manoeuvre in the closing stages.

"I was trying to figure out how aggressive you can be, because my race is not with Kimi - it is with Sebastian," he explained.

"I was trying to get past Kimi at the same time. I was just telling him he did a fantastic race, he drove incredibly fairly and I respect him so much. I really enjoyed racing with him.

"But getting past Seb at the beginning was clearly a massive turning point."