SILVERSTONE, U.K -- A frustrated Lewis Hamilton has suggested his first-lap collision with Kimi Raikkonen at the British Grand Prix was orchestrated by Ferrari.
Hamilton had a slow getaway from pole and was beaten into Turn 1 by title rival Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. At the right-hander which followed, Hamilton held the edge over Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari, but the Finn locked up and pitched the No.44 car into a spin.
Hamilton re-joined the action in last place but turned in an impressive drive back to second position, which meant he limited some of the ground lost to championship leader Vettel. After the race, Hamilton walked away from the interviews conducted in parc ferme and went straight to the cool-down room.
After the trophy presentation, Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle finally caught up with Hamilton, who took a swipe at Raikkonen's driving.
"This is the greatest crowd in the world, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to bring it home for them. I'll never give up." Hamilton said. "The team did a great job this weekend and there's been a lot of pressure on for us all. Interesting tactics I would say from their side but we will do what we can to fight them in the next"
When asked about the incident in the post-race press conference, he said: "All I'll say there's now two races the Ferraris have taken out one of the Mercedes. A five-second penalty [for Vettel in France] and a 10-second penalty doesn't feel... It is a lot of points Valtteri and I have lost in those incidents.
"Obviously it's a racing incident and I can't see behind me. We need to position ourselves better so we're not exposed to the red cars because who knows where they are going to be."
Raikkonen was issued a 10-second penalty for the incident. The Finn accepted responsibility for the incident in the parc ferme interviews Hamilton skipped.
"My bad but that's how it goes sometimes," the Finn said. "It was my mistake and [the penalty] is fine, I deserve it."