Demoted Hamilton protests his innocence

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Lewis Hamilton insists he did nothing wrong in his tussle with Kimi Raikkonen, which ended in his being stripped of a Belgian Grand Prix win.

The Englishman was handed a retrospective 25-second drive-through penalty after cutting a corner, a decision which saw him drop from first to third behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld, of BMW Sauber.

The race stewards stated the move had given him an unfair advantage but Hamilton stressed he had complied with the rules by allowing Raikkonen back through before repassing him at the next corner.

"I caught Kimi and I was in a good position to dive down the inside at turn 18," he said.

"He covered his spot, which was fair, but he braked very, very early, so I was able to go round the outside.

"I left him enough room, yet he accelerated or picked up more pace going into the corner, and drove me as wide as he possibly could.

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"I had no road left. There was a question I had to ask: if I stay where I am, I'm going to go over the Astroturf bit behind the last kerb and go over it and hit him. Or I go left.

"That was the option I had to do, I did it. I knew that I had to let him past and also the team came over the radio and said 'you have to let him past,' which I did.

"Fortunately I got back in his slipstream and again, he moved to the inside and back to the outside and again, I dodged him and went up the inside.

"That was a great fight and I don't think there was anything wrong there. The rules say you should let him back past, which I did," Hamilton said.

Raikkonen did not comment on the incident, preferring to underline that he was not about to throw in the towel on his title defense.

Starting fourth, the Finn led from the second lap after blazing past Massa and then passing Hamilton when the Englishman's McLaren spun.

But with Raikkonen's first victory since April in sight, the rain started to fall and he ran wide on the penultimate lap and skidded into the wall.

With five races left Raikkonen trails Hamilton in the championship by 19 points.

"I came here to win and I came close. It's the second race in a row that I've failed to score points," he said defiantly.

"Clearly the championship situation is what it is, but I'm not the sort to give up that easily.

"In the final laps the track conditions were very critical and unfortunately, I ran wide and when I tried to get back on track, I spun and ended up in the wall.

"The arrival of the rain definitely did not help. In these conditions, if you are in front you have to be more cautious as you don't know how much grip you'll find in each braking area.

"That's how Hamilton managed to close on me, and then you all saw what happened."