Hamilton: As Ayrton said, if you no longer go for a gap....

Mercedes' seven-time world champion finished fourth but was demoted to seventh after stewards ruled he had caused the collision during the race at Spa-Francorchamps

"As Ayrton said, if you no longer go for a gap that exists, then you are no longer a racing driver," Hamilton told reporters. "That is what I did. And when I watched it back it feels like a racing incident to me."

Perez retired, sending race-winning Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen 118 points clear at the top of the championship with Sunday's main grand prix still to come before drivers can start the August break.

Hamilton said conditions were tricky, with rain delaying proceedings before five laps behind the safety car led to a rolling start, and the contact was not intentional: "He was slow and I went up the inside and I was more than half a car length alongside."

The seven-time F1 World Champ added: "It would have been nice to finish fourth but I don´t really care about finishing fourth, I want to win. The positives are that our pace has been good. In the Sprint Shootout, we would have been fighting for the front row without the issues on our final lap.

"We would have been right up there battling with Max, but it wasn't meant to be. We now start third [for the GP today] and I hope I'll be able to fight with the Ferraris and Perez," added Hamilton.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said it had been a clear racing incident, while Perez said Hamilton had run out of grip and crashed into him: "The contact between Lewis and Perez I saw as a racing incident more than penalty worthy. They were side-by-side and we want to see people racing.

"Nevertheless, that was the decision, and we now move on to the Grand Prix tomorrow. If we take similar pace into the race, we will be in a good position to fight for a decent result," added Wolff.