By alley - Jul 6, 2017, 11:19 AM ET

Vettel: I overreacted against Hamilton

Sebastian Vettel admits he overreacted by hitting Lewis Hamilton in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and regrets the incident, but is confident the pair still respect each other.

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After running into the back of Hamilton before a Safety Car restart, Vettel pulled alongside to gesture at the race leader and swerved to the right, making contact with the Mercedes. Having been hit with a 10-second stop/go penalty during the race, Vettel was also subject to further investigation by the FIA earlier this week but

avoided any additional punishment

after accepting full responsibility.

"I think we've seen it many times, I've seen it," Vettel said, sitting alongside Hamilton in a press conference Thursday in Austria. "Obviously I had a very different view inside the car than I did with a gap outside the car. I had the chance to quickly talk to Lewis after the race but I don't want to pump this up more than it is already, I think it is my right, our right, to keep this between us. But I think I've said everything I need to say.

"I think it was the wrong decision. Obviously I got a penalty in the race and lost a potential race win. We couldn't foresee Lewis was running into a problem with his headrest but it could have been a lot more points at stake. After that we tried, I tried everything we could to recover."

Asked to clarify what he meant by "wrong decision," Vettel replied: "Wrong move, wrong decision – it was the wrong move to drive alongside him and hit his tires.

"That's what you're all here to hear about but there's not much more to talk about. At the time I was surprised; it felt like Lewis hit the brakes and I couldn't stop running into the back of his car but as I said in the statement and afterwards I don't think there was any intention and that he actually brake-tested me. That's why I was upset and overreacted.

"Am I proud of the moment? No. Can I take it back? No. Do I regret it? Yes. So I don't think we need to drag it out any further."

With Hamilton saying the incident doesn't change the dynamic between himself and Vettel, the German admits his rival had a right to be unhappy with the incident.

"I'm happy to hear that it doesn't seem to have a big impact. Obviously what I did was wrong and I apologized. I think it's totally up to Lewis – I did a mistake and it's nice to hear that we're able to move forward and I think the respect we have for each other on track, off track, it helps us in this regard."