Kamui Kobayashi says Lewis Hamilton was at fault in their Spa clash

Hamilton passed Kobayashi for fourth place, but on the approach to the Les Combes left-hander the Sauber appeared to have stronger top speed and came back at him. The Japanese was on the outside line when Hamilton moved over to take the ideal line into the corner, hitting the front-right of the Sauber and pitching himself into the barrier.

"I knew that I could not fight because he was much quicker than me," said Kobayashi. "He overtook me and was using the DRS rear wing, which I didn't. I was just using KERS, but we were running very low downforce and that's why I caught him up again.

"At the end of the straight, I was on the left and he was in the middle of the track. He came back and we had contact."

Kobayashi admitted that he was surprised to see Hamilton make that move and that the only way to avoid him would have been to drive off the track himself.

"Yes," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT if he was surprised. "If you look at the replay, I was always following the white line. I didn't change my line at all.

"I don't know what I needed to do. Maybe I needed to go into the gravel for him? He just had to stay in the middle of the track and not come back."

Although the stewards did briefly look at the incident, it was decided that there would be no action taken against either driver.

Kobayashi believes that it was the correct decision because he was able to continue without any damage.

"Let's say it was a racing incident," he said.

Hamilton agreed with Kobayashi's assessment after reviewing the incident.

"After watching the replay, I realise it was my fault today 100 per cent," said Hamilton via his Twitter feed. "I didn't give Kobayashi enough room though, I thought I was past."