While Sebastian Vettel still considers Lewis Hamilton’s post-British Grand Prix conspiracy complaint to be “silly”, he says he understands why he said what he did.

Hamilton accused Ferrari of using “interesting tactics” after Kimi Raikkonen hit him on the opening lap at Silverstone.

The impact pitched Hamilton into a spin, dropping him down to 18th place.

And while he recovered to finish second, the Brit was not at all happy with Ferrari in the immediate aftermath.

He subsequently accepted Raikkonen’s apology.

Asked about Hamilton’s comments, Vettel defended his title rival to Sky Sports.

“I think it’s fine,” he said.

“Obviously it was silly to say it but we are racing, we’ve all been there and it’s never great if you are hit without doing anything wrong.