Daniil Kvyat claims Kimi Raikkonen “suicided himself” in their clash at the Singapore Grand Prix.
After two quick-fire Safety Car periods, the pair caused a third by colliding as the Toro Rosso driver went for a bold move on the 2007 world champion into Turn 1.
Despite his overtake being quite ambitious, Kvyat says it was “clear” he was going down the inside and Raikkonen simply turned in.
“I was surprised because I made a move, I made it clear,” said the Russian. “He moved under braking, a thing we discuss a lot, and he was the one against it, actually. I’m surprised he did it.
“If you defend then you defend. If you leave the door open, leave the door open. He just… suicided himself. He tried to kill me as well.”
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Kimi appeared to accept the blame himself too, admitting he was already committed to the corner before noticing the lunging Toro Rosso.
“Not exactly the end of the race I was hoping for but it is what it is,” he said.
“My tyres were degrading and whilst I could manage to stay in position after the first restart, at the second the tyres were too cold and so I lost three positions and from then on I was struggling.
“The incident with Daniil Kvyat ended my race but I was going nowhere anyway.
“When I looked on the straight he was quite far behind, but when I was turning in I saw him in the corner of my eye but then it was too late to react.”
With Raikkonen instantly retiring, Kvyat went on to finish a lowly 15th.
“I had a chance to score points but did some messy restarts from my side,” he said.
“A bit partially because I couldn’t see much in my mirrors, which was an obstacle to seeing anything behind you, and yeah, then in the incident with Kimi I damaged the car, so it was a difficult afternoon.”
