Hamilton accepts Raikkonen apology for ‘racing incident’ 

Lewis Hamilton says he has accepted an apology from Kimi Raikkonen for crashing into him on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix.

Polesitter Hamilton suffered too much wheelspin at the start as he dropped behind Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas at Turn 1, before being turned around by Raikkonen a few corners later as the pair collided. 

Raikkonen was handed a 10-second time penalty for the clash and later admitted his punishment was deserved, while Hamilton staged a sublime comeback from towards the back of the field to finish second. 

The Briton later questioned Ferrari’s “interesting tactics” and suggested Raikkonen’s collision could have been intentional, but in a post on social media Hamilton revealed the pair had reconciled.

Having reflected on the collision, Hamilton said he now accepts it was a “racing incident and nothing more”. 

“Kimi said sorry and I accept it and we move on,” he wrote on his Instagram story. “It was a racing incident and nothing more. Sometimes we say dumb shit and we learn from it.”

“Thank you for loving me for being me with all my flaws,” Hamilton added. “I know I’m not perfect. 

“Accepting who you are and loving yourself are so important. Go be great today and be you and give zero fcks to what anybody thinks.”

Hamilton sits eight points adrift of chief title rival Vettel heading into the next race in Germany in two weeks’ time.