Hamilton takes social swipe at Vettel

Jul 3, 2017 - 8:55 PM Lewis Hamilton has stoked the flames of his rivalry with Sebastian Vettel by appearing to endorse a social media post which criticises the German and Formula One's governing body.

Vettel escaped further punishment from FIA on Monday after he accepted full responsibility for causing a deliberate collision with Hamilton at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The four-time champion Vettel also issued an apology to the Englishman in statement on his personal website.

Hamilton is yet to officially comment on FIA's ruling but 'liked' a damning Instagram post published on Monday night.

The message was critical of Vettel's actions, FIA's handling of the case, and suggested that the sport's governing body would not have been as lenient towards Hamilton.

FIA was unavailable for comment when contacted by Press Association Sport on Tuesday.

"Lost all respect for the FIA, Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel after that ruling," the post, published by tillykeeper_zackfan, read.

"The message this sends is that you can do whatever you want on track, smash into each other, but if you suck up and just apologise, you get away with it.

"If that was Lewis, he'd get banned, fined and points deducted. FIA are a bias set of fools towards Ferrari. Always have been and always will (be)."

Hamilton, who has more than 4.5million followers on Instagram, was one of more than 100 people to 'like' the post.

After a meeting at FIA's Paris headquarters on Monday, at which Vettel was accompanied by Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene, the German issued a private apology before releasing a public statement in which he acknowledged that he had ''caused a dangerous situation'' and ''overreacted'' after swerving into Hamilton's car on lap 19 of the chaotic Baku race.

FIA, of which former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt is president, could have disqualified Vettel from the the grand prix in Azerbaijan -- and the 12 points he scored for finishing fourth -- or indeed a race ban.

However, it accepted his apology and closed the case and Vettel's 14-point lead over Hamilton remains intact ahead.

Hamilton branded Vettel a ''disgrace'' and ''disrespectful'' and said that the 10-second stop-and-go penalty his rival served during the Baku race was not firm enough punishment.

Source: AAP