Daniil Kvyat says Sebastian Vettel suddenly slowed down before he punted him out of the Russian Grand Prix at Turn 3.
Kvyat twice made contact with Vettel, once under braking for Turn 2 and then again at the next corner when he hit the Ferrari driver into the wall and out of the race. The Russian driver says he expects a lot of "clever comments" in the coming days but thinks the second collision could have been prevented if Vettel had not lifted through Turn 3.
"Obviously I think in the future days we will see a lot of clever comments from everyone, but my point of view is that I locked my rear wheels," Kvyat said. "Just as simple as that. I didn't brake too late, just locked my rears and ran into his back. It almost felt as if someone was pushing me from behind. The car was bit out of control.
"I think the main problem came in Turn 3, not in Turn 2, when I think Sebastian felt he had a problem with the car, so he had to stop very, very suddenly. And I was just two metres behind him, and at that speed unfortunately today there was not much I could do to avoid him. I apologize for ruining his race, but I am human and his sudden de-acceleration was too much for me at that point in Turn 3."
Kvyat thinks the ten-second stop-go penalty he received for the incident was harsh and says Vettel probably slowed in the belief he had damage to the rear of his car.
"I don't say that he did it deliberately, not possible. I think that he just thought that maybe after the first light contact in Turn 2 there was a problem with the car, and so to be sure he just dropped the speed very suddenly. But I still expected him to keep going because he was flat out until then. And suddenly when the speed dropped so much...
"I think the stewards thought I just crashed deliberately into him, but it wasn't like that. It wasn't the case. I think the penalty was very harsh, but probably fair enough, and of course apologies for all this mess. I think it cost us a few points today. But these things happen and I usually learn from these kinds of things."
Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo was also upset with Kvyat after the race, as the initial clash with Vettel had jeopardised his own race and forced an early pit stop. Kvyat understands his teammate's frustrations but adds that he is unfazed by people attacking him over the incident.
"Yes, I understand, I think probably the whole paddock will want an apology from me. But we will speak inside the team about these things after analysing everything. It is easy to talk now, very easy to attack me. Go on, attack me, no problem."
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said Kvyat had apologised, but also pointed out that it was the first incident like that for the Russian.
"He's apologised to the team and I think he's apologised to Sebastian, if he's not seen him in person I'm sure he'll do that next time he sees him, so he accepts that he made a mistake and these things happen. Unfortunately it destroyed both of our driver's races today.
"I'm sure he was pumped up for his home race but I think it just took him by surprise by what he said of how quickly the car stopped ahead of him. He's young and it's the first time he's been involved in an accident like this and I'm sure he will learn from it."
The Russian driver was also handed three penalty points on his superlicence for the incident, meaning he is now on five over the last 12 months. Moving on to 12 over that rolling time period results in an automatic one-race ban.