Hamilton defends maneuver
"It began to rain," said Hamilton. "I caught Kimi and I got a good tow from him down the back straight and I was in a good position to dive down the inside at Turn 18. He covered his spot, which was fair, but he braked very early, so I was able to outbrake him and go around the outside, which I did.
"I left him enough room. I didn't close the gap so much that he had to go on a curb. Yet he accelerated, or picked up more pace going into the corner, and drove me as wide as he possibly could. I had no road left.
"There was a question I had to ask: if I stay where I am, I'm going to go over the Astroturf – there's some of it behind the last curb – or go over it and hit him. Or I go left. That was the option I had to do, and I did it.
"But I knew I had to let him past, and also the team came over the radio and said 'you have to let him past' which I did. I was accelerating so that I didn't lose too much ground because I thought that would be unfair. Fortunately I got back in his slipstream, and again he moved to the inside and back to the outside.
"Again, I dodged him and went up the inside and at the apex to the corner he hit me at the back, and that nearly caused me to spin. Fortunately I kept hold of it and went on from there. That was a great fight and I don't think there was anything wrong there.
"The rules say you should let him back past which I did."
"This is motor racing and if there's a penalty, then there's something wrong because I was ahead going into that corner, so I didn't gain an advantage from it. We were still able to race at the next corner and I gave him his spot back, and I think it was fair and square, so I think it would be absolutely wrong."