Valtteri Bottas labelled his second collision in three races with compatriot Kimi Raikkonen a 'shame', saying that it was simply a case of bad luck while racing hard in Mexico.
The Finn attempted to pass Raikkonen on the inside of Turn 5 on lap 21, but the duo made contact and Raikkonen was pitched out of the race - a reverse of their coming together on the final lap in Russia, two races ago.
"It didn't have to end like that - I was inside into Turn 5 and then we collided," Bottas explained. "I had no space to go.
"We had contact in Russia but this was just unlucky that we got together again. We were racing hard, obviously, and of course I'm not going to back off, I'm fighting for the position.
"I was calculating the risk, I think there was a decent possibility to get through. But, hey, it ended up like this."
Asked if he needed to hold clear-the-air talks with Raikkonen, Bottas added: "I don't know if there's anything to really speak about. There was nowhere to go, but that's racing. Unlucky that it was us two that collided again."
Raikkonen was philosophical about the collision, which was investigated by the stewards, who decided to take no further action.
"About the accident with Bottas, there are always two different ways to look at things, everybody can have their own view, but to be honest I did not expect a much different end result," he said. "It's racing in the end, but I think I was expecting that it probably might happen after Russia.
"Has he done it on purpose? I don't know, you can decide yourselves, it doesn't change the final outcome right now and it's not going to change anything for me for the future."
As a result of the race, Bottas has now jumped ahead of Raikkonen and into fourth in the drivers' championship, the pair on 126 and 123 points respectively.
