Sirotkin: Hamilton did nothing wrong

The Russian came close to a big crash at the start of Q2 when Hamilton moved into Sirotkin's path as he closed rapidly in on Hamilton in the final sequence of corners.

Although Hamilton was upset about the situation - saying that Sirotkin should not have tried to pass him ahead of their qualifying runs - the Williams driver explained that he had no choice.

Having unexpectedly made it through to Q2, Williams had no tyres ready for Sirotkin so he had to fit a used set from Q1 which had not been pre-heated.

"They were minus-27 degrees compared to the delta, so I had to push very hard all the way around," said Sirotkin.

"I was still pushing all the way through Turn 11 and he [Hamilton] was very slow preparing for his lap.

"Because I was coming so quickly, I didn't expect him to give me the room as we were both on out laps.

"I had such a big speed difference with him, that I just moved myself to the left to get through and, at the last minute, he saw me and tried to move.

"I was like 200km/h quicker than him at that point on the left so it was quite difficult to get around and to avoid the contact.

"But again I don't think there is anything he did wrong. It was just the situation that I had to push, which was quite unusual for the outlap, but these things can happen."

Although Hamilton blamed Sirotkin for triggering the incident by being 'disrespectful' in overtaking on an out-lap, the Russian denied he was to blame.

"I would disagree [that it was a disrespectful move]," Sirotkin added.

"I think if you look generally at what I am doing on track, there are not many other drivers who pay so much respect, especially to the leading cars that I know are fighting for the title.

"It was my situation, I just needed to push it all the way to the end to get some temps in it, even though I think I would never make it enough.

"There was no solution for me to slow down and cruise to his speed for the last quarter of the lap."

Daniel Ricciardo said Sirotkin did nothing wrong in overtaking Hamilton on an out-lap because there was no hard and fast rule about how drivers should behave.

"I feel there is like a bit of an understanding most of the time, but... yeah, none of us have ever agreed to it," he said.

"I guess we kinda feel, look, if we respect them, then when they're in that position next time they'll respect me. It's kind of a - I'll be nice this time, you'll probably be nice in return down the track."