Lewis Hamilton has stoked the flames of his rivalry with Sebastian Vettel by appearing to endorse a social media post which criticises the German and Formula One's governing body.

Vettel, 30, escaped further punishment from the FIA on Monday after he accepted full responsibility for causing a deliberate collision with Hamilton at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The four-time champion also issued an apology to the Englishman via a statement which he released on his personal website.

Hamilton is yet to officially comment on the FIA's ruling, but 'liked' a damning Instagram post published on Monday night.

The message was critical of Vettel's actions, the FIA's handling of the case, and suggested that the sport's governing body would not have been as lenient towards Hamilton.

The FIA was unavailable for comment when contacted by Press Association Sport on Tuesday.

"Lost all respect for the FIA, Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel after that ruling," the post, published by tillykeeper_zackfan, said.

"The message this sends is that you can do whatever you want on track, smash into each other, but if you suck up and just apologise, you get away with it.

"If that was Lewis, he'd get banned, fined and points deducted. FIA are a bias set of fools towards Ferrari. Always have been and always will (be)."

Hamilton, who has more than 4.5million followers on Instagram, was one of more than 100 people to 'like' the post.

Vettel, 30, escaped further punishment from the FIA on Monday after he accepted full responsibility for causing a deliberate collision with Hamilton at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The four-time champion also issued an apology to the Englishman via a statement which he released on his personal website.

Hamilton is yet to officially comment on the FIA's ruling, but 'liked' a damning Instagram post published on Monday night.

The message was critical of Vettel's actions, the FIA's handling of the case, and suggested that the sport's governing body would not have been as lenient towards Hamilton.

The FIA was unavailable for comment when contacted by Press Association Sport on Tuesday.

"Lost all respect for the FIA, Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel after that ruling," the post, published by tillykeeper_zackfan, said.

"The message this sends is that you can do whatever you want on track, smash into each other, but if you suck up and just apologise, you get away with it.

"If that was Lewis, he'd get banned, fined and points deducted. FIA are a bias set of fools towards Ferrari. Always have been and always will (be)."

Hamilton, who has more than 4.5million followers on Instagram, was one of more than 100 people to 'like' the post.