Hamilton apologises to Massa and Maldonado

2011 Monaco Grand Prix

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Pastor Maldonado, Williams, Monaco, 2011

Lewis Hamilton has apologised for comments he made after the Monaco Grand Prix in a series of posts on Twitter.

Hamilton said: “Hey guys. I wanted to apologise for last weekend’s performance and also my comments after, I never meant to offend no one.

“I would also like to say thank you to everyone on here, for their positive messages and also to the angry messages. I can respect them both.

“To Massa and Maldonado, with the greatest respect I apologise if I offended you. Both of you are fantastic drivers who I regard highly.

“To my fans lost and my fans won, I wish you nothing but love and happiness. God bless you. Onwards and upwards, Montreal next.”

Following the Monaco Grand Prix Hamilton accused the two drivers of causing collisions by turning in on him while he was trying to overtake them, saying “these drivers are absolutely fricking ridiculous, it’s stupid.”

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    152 comments on “Hamilton apologises to Massa and Maldonado”

    1. It’s not Lewis’ apologies. He wasn’t using English I think…

      1. True. It was his PR company. Lewis writes like a gangsta.

        Obviously he has now seen that it was his own fault and bad driving that caused the accidents.

        1. If translated into Lewis language, it would read like this:

          Holla homeez! I was wnt apologeez fo last wknd. I waz tripp’n an I neva meant to fend ya’ll.

          Fanks to my homeez fo be’n der fo ME! Y’all be positive n stuff!

          1. lol
            I needed that. Thanks

          2. Ha! To be fair, I think those are Lewis’ words. They read like he tired his best to not sound like the above…

        2. Dont know how you make that one out, he done it probably due to keeping the peace and not causing any more of a storm. He hasnt held his hands up.

      2. He used abbreviations in the original message, this one is edited to correct English, I saw the originals.

        1. Click the link in the article to see them.

    2. Glad to see his comments where just in the heat of the moment, as least regards his comments about his fellow drivers.

      1. That’s meant to say “at least regarding his comments…”

      2. He has made his point, keeps his sixth place and has massaged the egos of Massa, Maldanado and his detractors enough so they feel like they got their way – great PR stuff

        1. GREAT PR?!?!.
          well, accusing the stewards of RACISM is not something that is gonna slide that easily – an apology?! pfffffff.

          I’m sure the FIA and the WMSC have now zeroed in Lewis H. He could get off with it if he keeps his dirty mouth SHUT for …lets see….A YEAR or so.

          In the mean time any thing he does will be looked upon with a pinch of salt.

          You see the only thing more important than a PR bimbo, bringing the sport to the masses, to Bernie E & jean T et al. is the reputation of the sport. This will have serious repurcussions….

    3. This is crazy but after all this, I respect and enjoy Lewis alot more.

      He has a personality thats suddenly leapt out, for better or for worse. And in this day and age in sport, that’s pretty rare. Especially in F1!

      I think many of us can perhaps see ourselves in some of Lewis’ behavior. Havn’t we all had days where we’ve hit the roof after everything bad that could have happened, happened? So what do we do? Let off some steam. Instead of feeding us the usual PR lardy da, we got a genuine human reaction, again, for better or for worse.

      And I like that.

      1. this here is the PR lardy da

        1. seeing how it’s on twitter and not the mclaren website or something, I’m more inclined to believe this isn’t just for PR.

          this is good stuff from hamilton. :)

          1. twitter became the province of the PR department a long time ago… it looks a lot more personal than it really is.

          2. I believe it was him and he was sincere, but why did he just write it to the world and not @ Pastor Maldonado? Massa isn’t on Twitter, but what I’m saying is Lewis wrote it as if he wanted the world to know, not the two involved.

          3. They way I see it, what you say in the heat of the moment usually turns out to be what people really think. That’s why I don’t believe any apology he has to make.

            All Lewis has shown me that he is no different to that annoying brat from 2007/2008.

            1. Yep, 2007 was really a moral victory for Alonso:
              – prevent your rookie team mate from attending test sessions
              – complain about not being allowed past your team mate
              – block your team mate in quali
              – cost your team an $100 million fine.

              I don’t think the Alonsista’s have the moral high ground.

      2. Geordie Porker
        30th May 2011, 22:44

        Couldn’t agree more – what you have here is a young, competitive and ‘driven’ sportsman (sorry!!), who has just seen a weekend where he knows he had at least a 50/50 shot at the win end with him in 6th place, having been v close to being lapped before the red flag. If it could have gone wrong it did, and he was frustrated. But instead of the usual canned rubbish, he spoke his mind; I was upset about his comments about Massa & Maldonado because that was the bit that clearly wasn’t intended as a joke, but he’s come out now and publicly apologised – credit to him.

        1. He didn’t speak his mind. He had an emotional outburst.

          Not the same thing.

          1. I think thats kinda the point. How many f1 drivers have we seen emotion from in recent years?

            1. Alonso when ever Lewis does something he dosn’t like.

          2. He spoke his mind in an emotional outburst in this case I think

            1. I think you should contrast Hamilton with Webber. Webber always speaks his mind, but never with such emotion that he’s speaking only with frustration. He always seems to think about what he is going to say before saying it, but doesn’t mince his words.

              Hamilton on the other hand spoke from the heart but without thinking, and I think it’s clear from his Ali-G comment. I don’t like it or respect it, but it’s very entertaining.

              I’m EXTREMELY anti Hamilton, in the camp of ‘anyone but Hamilton’. For me he is my pantomime villian, and I love these outbursts. And although I he really gets on my nerves, the sport wouldn’t be the same without him.

      3. Dan Selby, I 100% agree with you. Everyone has lost there cool in some way or another. In the end it’s how someone can look at another individual and apologize is the key factor. Good on you Lewis. Just drive and try to stay out of the limelight.

        1. If what he spoke was what’s in his mind – especially the Ali G comment then i’ll consider his mind a garbage heap.

          Next time he could speak his mind / heart out by commenting on Bernie E’s sexual encounters or Flavio B’s wife. Now that would be entertaining as hell.

    4. It’s good that he has apologised to Massa and Maldonado. I always felt that the lack of respect he showed to the other drivers was the worst thing he did.

      1. Yep. The Ali G joke was brainless but I can see why he’d make that joke. The press were always going to jump all over it.

        The Massa and Maldonado comments were out of order, though. Even if the passes were 50/50, or even if they genuinely did turn in on him (which I’m not at all convinced of), there were better ways to say “I think the other guy was at fault”.

        And the good thing is we know that that’s not a PR drone on twitter because the grammar is awful.

        1. @Hairs

          that pretty much sums it up.

        2. Completely agree.

      2. I always felt that the lack of respect he showed to the other drivers was the worst thing he did

        Agreed. The Ali G remark was silly, but clearly it was just a daft joke. Although, perhaps he’s unaware that being mixed race he’s as white as he is black…

        1. I think he knows Ned. And I think the Ali G was very smart, he made his point without it being too barbed or too easy to shoot down – even by those people telling him what colour his mother was.

          1. *is* even

        2. Sorry Flanders, that’s not the way it works.
          Have you read Hamilton being described as the first “mixed raced” F1 driver.
          Or Barack Obama as the first “mixed raced president”? If you have, let me know. I doubt if anyone is more aware of what he is than Hamilton himself.

          1. kenneth Ntulume
            31st May 2011, 14:41

            J wise comment

        3. You know, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say I think Lewis Hamilton might have a better idea of his own racial identity than you do. In addition to the more obvious factors, I’d imagine there are countless experiences over the course of his life that have contributed to it – for example, the racial slurs he’s been enduring since he was a kid racing karts.

          1. @ Robyn.

            Totally agree.

    5. Good on you for apologising, now next year Lewis when in Monaco please remember that when the car in front is taking a sharp left turn to hit the apex, its doing that because its in a race, not because its suddenly decided to hates you.

        1. I second that!!!!!

      1. Touche Sushi!

      2. And if a driver is overtaking you and you’ll fail to make the apex without crashing, don’t take the apex as the other driver has claimed that area of the corner.

        Lewis illustrated that he’s able to do that on the first few laps when Schu overtook him. Why can’t other drivers use their mirrors too?

        1. i second that.

        2. Too true Dphect.

        3. yes if that was true i would agree. but in massa and maldanodos case they were on the apex and not lewis. so you point is invalid. and so are the people who agree with you.

      3. Maverick_232
        31st May 2011, 13:08

        COTD??? That’s a laugh.

        I’m sure the 2008 F1 world champion and arguably the most exciting driver on the grid, WILL listen to your opinion, completely agree with you and incorporate it in his driving style for the rest of his career.

        Or then again, he might not and continue to race his b***** off at every single race track he goes to.

      4. Well dear Mr.Sushi then why does it turn before it’s time?

        I hope the Hamilton apology is only about the comments and not about the events on the track because he was right about the events on the track.

        Here is the prove clear and bright. The stewards are nothing but… well i can’t write the word.

        1)Maldonado event.

        Look where Barrichelo(the car turning) takes the corner. Look where his back wheels are. Hamilton is already by the side of Maldonado btw.
        http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg
        http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg

        Then the time for HRT to take the turn. It takes it slightly tighter than Rubens.
        Last two pics you can see Maldonado looking at the direction of Lewis, he knows his there and he knows his about to lose the position and he has to conceit.
        http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg
        http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg
        http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg

        But what does he do? He just turns in to Hamilton. Look at his line of turning compare to the two cars that turn before in above pics? He turned a full car length quicker exactly like Hamilton said and he did it exactly to stop Hamilton because well that’s not the line you usually take. Why did he take that line?
        Look at the last two pics how Hamilton completely goes at the outside of the kerp to avoid him but that guy keeps turning in on him.
        http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg
        http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg
        http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg

        EVEN a BLIND MAN sees it’s Maldonado fault. It’s completely crazy and revolting how the stewards acted and how Hamilton has to apologize to that little devil while he can play the innocent little angel.

        Massa incident.
        Pics speak by themselves.
        Massa turns in on him. Hamilton completely rides the kerb trying to avoid him but Massa behaves like his alone on the track. What a joke!
        http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/2343/monaco1.jpg
        http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/4214/monaco2i.jpg
        http://img833.imageshack.us/img833
        /8646/monaco3.jpg
        http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/4578/28df7b292.jpg

        Same place Schumi overtakes Hamilton. Hamilton completely respects the other car and doesn’t turn into him.
        http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg
        http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg
        Take notice how the place at the track where the second pic is, is even more in-frond from the place that Massa already has turned on Hamilton. You can compare the part of the track by counting the red lines of the kerb.
        http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/4214/monaco2i.jpg

        Absolutely revolting! Stewards making a mockery of racing and fans letting their personal hate and their lack of knowledge prevail accusing the guy about his comments but no one bothering that the facts on the track are a joke.
        Having a problem with the comments but not having a problem with the even worse abuse happening on the track is unbelievable. Are we watching F1 for the racing or for the soap-opera?

        If Hamilton apologized for the comments then those two bad jokes for drivers should apologize back about their driving and acknowledge their faults.

        Hamlton’s anger while commenting hurt him severely because it took the focus out of the fact that the events on the track are absolutely unfair against him and that he was 100% right.
        But if i got penalized after those, well i will be going crazy and making theories in my mind too because it’s just absolutely frustrating and unfair.

        1. EXCELLENT POST!! There are always two sides to a coin! There is too much prejudice in the sport. When racing is boring, we complain. When it gets exciting we shoot down the racers for racing! All of these incidents at Monaco this week-end would have been just simple racing incidents (accidents) a few years ago. And, as for the glory years of Senna & company, all of them would have been stripped of their super license by today’s standard of stewarding!

        2. What a load of rubbish, you expect drivers to all take the same line? He should have been in the same position he was to overtake Schumi to make it work. He lunged and hoped Maldonado would move out the way, there is nothing else to it.

          1. He should have taken the same position he had while overtaking Schumi?

            Do you mean like this?

            http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/3797/hamiltonmonacoturn1b.jpg
            http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8572/hamiltonmonaco2011t1.jpg

            1. Brilliant Solo! Don’t expect mere evidence to get in the way of a good Hamilton bash though. People interpret virtually the same incidents according to a whole jumble of other stuff in their mind. Here on Brazilian TV they were blaming Hamilton not only for wrecking Massa’s car wheels (!) but also for causing the Petrov crash!!! Only later did they grumbling admit he’d actually achieved a fine pass.

              But the stewards are supposed to rise above this. Bad, bad job.

            2. The first image shows where he was in relation except the issue here was that Maldonado was running a more defensive line entering the corner. If anything this picture shows that Lewis had less space to work with than Schumacher. As for the second picture the lines make little to no sense in terms of comparison because:
              1 The zoom is different
              2 The angles are slightly different

              The comment on the picture is stupid as well, “Maldonado turns in early whilst already half a car length from the racing line.” That is what is known as a defensive racing line. That is how you stop people from getting past. Especially when they have a DRS and speed advantage down the main straight.

            3. @Eric how is that a defensive line it is this simple he cut in…it was obvious Hamilton wasn’t going to back off and he was going for the pass. Also even if it is a defensive line, you don’t keep going with it and wrecking yourself and the person with DRS. Especially at a track with a very low tolerance for passes and how the passes are made. There is a reason it seems why Pastor was in GP2 for so long. Also the lines and angles are not so different that the effect would be that different. Shumi yielded to the speed of Hamilton because he too was on the defensive and realised Lewis was faster. Pastor on the otherhand being the rookie just decided to not yield and thus we see the result.Now Lewis didn’t have much chance to back off but he could have especially considering who he was racing and thus made the pass later on being obviously faster.

            4. Interesting. I guess it all comes down to if Maldonaldo saw him, and based upon his defensive line and looking in mirrors in the pictures it would appear he did.

              In which case, blindly leaving no room for another driver is quite reckless, he knew there was not enough room for both cars to make the apex, why cause an accident.

          2. Come on, Maldonado clearly cuts so far in towards Hamilton, he ended up almost entirely over the kerb. I’d have taken this photo as clear evidence Maldonado cut into Hamilton when he should have left room. His only claim could be to have been unsighted, but going off the natural line over the corner suggests he did see him. No penalty due. Really shocking stewarding.

          3. It’s no use to argue with the Hamilton fans, now they are saying that he is such a good boy cause he apologized via twitter (lol) after calling some colleagues ridiculous and saying that the penalties were given to him because he is black on TV. Some of them are are even saying that he is smart cause he quoted Ali G :D. It’s a lost cause arguing with them.

            1. Well his colleagues really were ridiculous as is proved by the evidence. But lets not keep facts bother us.
              The only mockery is that he has to apologize to those joke drivers because of the stupid PR machine.

        3. RIISE, maldonado did the exact opposite of moving out of the way fairly to give him room. The third picture in the third block of pictures above shows maldonado completely on the wrong line, even his front left is INSIDE the kerb, showing he completely turned in on hamilton. Absolutely stupid by maldonado, should have realised hamiltn was committed, like hamilton realised schumacher was committed at the hairpin.

          1. *apoligies his front RIGHT is inside, which is still completely the wrong line. I bet if we had a later shot his front left would have been on the kerb, which is just ridiculous. I’m not scorning at maldonado, he was probably nervous because he was in a good top ten position, but to say hamilton is at blame for that is ludicrous. Racing incident.

        4. Well said Solo. Most people commenting here have never been involved in any competitive sport before, and certainly not at the highest level. They do NOT understand the desire to win and how it encompasses, define and shapes a persons life; This is why they expect sportsmen to behave like robots in the heat of competition.

          Most people criticizing Lewis would have said far far worse if they had gone through the kind of weekend Lewis had a Monaco. It really p****s me off!

          The guy is human for Gods sake! His desire to win is clearly above most of the grid; save for Alonso, Schumacher and Vettel – and we all know how they behave when things go against them, or they lose.

          We say we want racing, but vilify the best racer on the grid when it goes wrong, vilify him for speaking his mind, vilify him for apologizing, even vilify him when his team makes a mistake that costs him dearly!
          And in this case, he CLEARLY was NOT at fault for both incidents. I agree with Lewis that Massa must indeed be stupid; as its not the first time that he has tried to turn the car overtaking him into a pile of Lego bricks. He is even known for destroying his own race just to stop another car from overtaking him.
          Lewis has NEVER been involved in an incident where another car has attempted to overtake him – This cannot be said for Massa, Webber, Vettel etc, and i dont see crowds out trying to hang and quarter them! At worst, this was a racing incident for Gods sake.

          I just hate it when underachieving couch potatoes who cant do a tenth of what a sportsman does suddenly become experts on sports psychology and start criticizing the said sportsperson when he does something wrong. They have no idea what it take to reach the highest echelons of your sport, the effort, hard work, sacrifices and sweat. Yeah, you may have read about , but if you have NEVER been in any physically demanding competitive sport at the highest level, you just need to shut up and slink back to your unfulfilled existence, instead of criticizing those that have the guts to do it! Rant over!

        5. David Johnson
          1st June 2011, 8:30

          +1 !! Nice one Solo !!

        6. What a load of tosh!

          Look at your own images. Michael was already alongside Hamilton when he made that pass. In case of Massa, Hamilton was about half-a-car length behind Massa.

          And please don’t tell us that Maldonado is not supposed to turn in earlier. Like Sushi said, it is a race and drivers are allowed to defend their positions.
          Maldonado is not give in to Hamilton just because Hamilton is half-a-car length behind him. That is not how F1 racing works.

          Has to be said though, F1Fanatic has become more of a LHFanatic website these days. The bias needs to reduce if we want to have honest discussions about driver abilities.

          1. The bias needs to reduce

            What have I written that you’re objecting to?

            1. I am objecting to the comment. Not any post written by you Keith.

              I mean come on, Hamilton still being 4th in the “driver of the weekend” is just absolutely bizarre. This was one of the worst races Hamilton had. And he himself accepts it and apologizes. But unfortunately, his fans are unwilling to accept it.

            2. I am objecting to the comment. Not any post written by you Keith.

              Then address your comments to the readers, not the site.

        7. thanks solo for the great job and for the pictures of something that should be seen on video. very clever.
          hamilton “respected the other car” because hamilton went wide and shumi had the racing line and was already next to him before they turned. In the case of massa and maldinardo they had the racing line and were infront of hamilton. there is a huge difference.and your pictures shows this. you are seeing what you want to see. he expected massa and maldanardo to jump out of his way. they didnt he drove into them.

          1. First, pictures are better if it’s the action with close frames because it’s static and you can analyze with your peace what you see and see details you can’t notice with a fast moving video. A live video is fast and in a split of a moment. In the end after you watch you get nothing because anyone can say anything because he can see anything he likes. It’s all just happened fast and anyone can say whatever.

            They had the racing line and they were in-frond? You are just making a fool of yourself of not knowing anything about racing.
            First Hamilton had the inside line, and this racing line is nothing but your imagination.
            Who taught you this stupidity of people having the supposed racing line of having the right to just hit other cars by their side and not leaving room? They don’t have any such right.
            Where to you people come with this staff?

            As about being in-frond then read a little because the driver overtaking certainly isn’t obliged to have his car in-frond before they reach a corner and Hamilton didn’t just put his frond wing on there back wheels.
            From when is defending just turning into the other guy? Defending happens when you close the door BEFORE the other guy slips through. When you left it open and he already took it then he can’t go anywhere else it’s up to the defender to decide if he wants to race side by side or just cause a collision. The collision is their responsibility.
            You can’t close a door when someone is half way threw it. You are just gonna hit the guy. The same happens with real doors too doesn’t it?
            A prober racer respects the other cars and doesn’t hit them simply because his losing to them. Hamilton wasn’t demanding anything. He simply took the door they left open, that’s not demanding for them to let him threw, that is taking their inside line and winning them. If they can’t accept defeat or try to race him by side and want to play collision derby then it’s there responsibility.

            So are we going to accuse every driver attempting to pass of wanting people to make room for him simply because he took the door that will give him the overtake that he was trying to accomplish?
            Isn’t that the point of overtaking? Taking the inside line and winning over your opponent?

            They where the ones acting like spoiled brats that can’t accept making a mistake of leaving the door open. They are the ones who demanded people not trying to pass them or they will push them off track.
            Just because Monaco is small doesn’t mean that pushing people off track isn’t your mistake.
            If pushing other off the track simply because you car is slightly in-frond is allowed then Schumi did nothing wrong pushing Rubens on the pit-wall. Besides Rubens took the inside line and Schumi had the normal line that you call racing line.
            So sure just push others in the grass, the wall, the barriers, just don’t let that other guy pass. You can to anything you like. Are you people serious? Do you even use your logic a little or did you decide to follow some imaginary rules where the defender has the right to hit cars by his side and close doors that are too late to be closed?
            When you say he has the right to close the door when the other guy has already taken the door, you are basically saying he has the right to hit people because that’s what’s gonna happen when you close a door too late.
            What happened to respect among racers and going at it side by side and acknowledging when the other guy took it from you?

            1. google racing line. teach yourself something

      5. Agreed, I view the Hamilton-Maldonado as a racing incident. Lewis tried a move that was marginal, and although it worked on Shumacher and his huge experience it was always going to be a risk with a rookie driver.
        But I wonder how opinions here would differ if Maldonado was behind Hamilton and going for the overtake? I’m sure the Hamilton fanboyism would be just as apparent and there would be people calling Maldonado all sorts of names as well as telling him to leave the sport for good

        1. with his move on schumacher he was extremely lucky to get away with it. if you see the onboard shots there must have been less than 50mm between them.

    6. Indeed hairs! I’m sure the daily mirror will take the double negative as intended :)

      1. The actual difference between those two is the first picture.

        In the second picture it shows that they were positioned in almost exactly the same way as they approached the corner. If we take the first picture into account though we realise that Hamilton was travelling much faster than Schumacher whilst only travelling marginally faster than Maldonado. We’d need another picture on turn in to find out whats what

        1. Like this one maybe?

          1. Thank you for arguing against your own point. Saves me the trouble. In that pic you obviously see that Hamilton was one virtually one level with Schumacher, so Schumacher had to keep the door open. Whereas Maldonado was a bit further ahead and therefore fully entitled to the racing line.

            1. that ^

            2. @ Klon, with respect, I think you’ve missed the point.
              If Maldonado had taken the “racing line” as you say, that would have given both drivers just about enough room to manouver and avoid a collision. He did not do this however, and instead went through St.Devote so far to the right that one could almost form the impression he was trying to overtake someone on the inside. So yes, it was an ambitious move on the part of Hamilton, but very poor defending on the part of Maldonado. Therefore I would agree with Martin Brundle and and many bloggers here and not have have given him the penalty for this incident.

          2. I think this shows it should be deemed just a racing incident.
            Maybe give both a reprimand, if they want (seems they are really hot on them right now). Hamilton should have taken more care, Maldonado might have turned in a tad later or had a long look in the mirror before to see where Lewis was.

            1. Thanks for that, I agree it shows that the difference between a successful overtake and a crash is slim, and how important it is that both drivers give each other room.

              In racing, that doesn’t always happen, so racing incident happen unless they just go around in circles, are overtaking via strategy or with a very effective DRS zooming straight past on a straight.

        2. but the first pictures aren’t taken at the same place. Note the zebra crossing in the Schui pic

      2. Seems pretty obvious to me (and I called it at the time), that Maldonado turned into Hamilton. Those two pictures give a fairly good example that he had a decent overlap on the inside of Maldonado, so he should have been left room.

        Schumacher gave best, but if he’d braked as late as Maldonado he might have left more space at the apex, or Hamilton might have been able to slow down.

        Back on topic, I’m glad he apologised, this reminds me of his ‘monkeys at the back’ comment a couple of years ago.

        1. Ha. Take off those Hamilton-cloured glasses and you might see things for how they really are. In other words, those not biased towards Hamilton correctly realise that hamilton deliberately drove into the side of Maldonado.

          1. hamilton deliberately drove into the side of Maldonado.

            So after surviving 74 laps of Monaco, and being able to continue having had his rear wing replaced, Hamilton suddenly decided to deliberately drive into another car?

            Complete nonsense.

            1. Just as much nonsense as people claiming Maldonado turned into him on purpose. I think Hamilton was at fault, and he really should have considered that although the move worked against shumacher, the move against maldonado was against a rookie rather than one of the most experienced men on the grid. But it could have easily been a racing incident. Guess it doesn’t matter though since the penalty didn’t affect him in the slightest. He should be happy about this, he gained a place and lost nothing

      3. Your pictures are really nice. I think the rules have to be changed, as it seems unless you are past then the driver you are overtaking can just turn into you and get a penalty. I know this is a fine line, but ultimately we all want the drivers doing this!

        It is the same reason I dislike the fact the lead driver can just push another driver out of space.

        1. Actually, If your name is Micheal Schumacher and you happen to be at Jerez in 1997, and you ‘just turn into’ a car that’s overtaking you, you’ll probably get the penalty and not the overtaking driver.

          (and rightfully so of course).

          1. At Jerez Villeneuve was ahead of Schumacher got turned in on, and Schumacher got the penalty. So the point question is, at what point does the car turning in become the victim or the aggressor?

            1. I don’t think you can judge this from a static pictures, in Schumacher’s case he was struggling with tyres and Hamilton was clearly faster then him and had the pace to make the move stick and was side by side with him when they started breaking for the corner.
              In the Maldonado case they were more evenly matched and he got close to him only after Williams driver started breaking and turning into a corner.

          2. Or if your name is Prost at Suzuka in 89…

    7. Fake PR-talk. :(
      Why on earth did his team allow him to give an interview directly after the race? They should have known he was going to say stupid things, so they had to protect him against himself. Now it’s too late to come up with some fake apologies.

      1. What I find funny is that a lot of people said that they respect Hamilton for speaking his mind at the end of the race. And now, these same fans have even more respect for Lewis once his PR team gave him a scolding, and asked him to make a public apology to the drivers and stewards he had offended.

        I was never a fan of Hamilton as a sports personality. I always thought he was a bit of an idiot, and this weekend he proved that without the PR team scripting his every word, he is just a really big douche bag.

        1. If you always though he was an idiot..what chance did he have to change your mind? now chance for you to give a unbiased view as your mind was made up long ago.

          1. He had a chance to express himself in a respectable manner after the race, instead he calls the stewards racist, and two of his fellow drivers ridiculously stupid. After his PR team shows him the errors of his ways, he decides to write a fake apology via twitter, just to do some damage limitation to his reputation.

            You can call me biased, but I dont think that anyone other than a Hamilton fanboy could respect Lewis for his on track and off track behaviour this weekend.

            1. Pretty much sums up my view.

              I love watching him race normally; that gung-ho attitude is great. But when things go wrong he takes it too far and then blames everyone else.

    8. Technically he did have the intent to offend – note the double negative. Either his grammar is appalling or he’s sneakier than Senor Alonso…

      1. Either his grammar is appalling or he’s sneakier than Senor Alonso…

        loooooooooooooooooooooooool :D

    9. This is simply a PR stunt. A true heartfelt apology would have been conducted either in person, or at least in a phone call, not via twitter.

      1. Who’s to say he didn’t apologise in person?

      2. I admire the sentiment but I think a better tool would have been more appropriate (assuming he hasn’t contacted them in person of course) especially as Massa doesn’t even have Twitter :P However, given the stick he’s got the past couple of days a very public apology is a case of two birds and one stone I guess.

        1. Quite probably. I hope his dad told him to also go and call them or something, or bring them flowers at next race, that would be cute :)

    10. Somewhat inevtiable apologies but nonetheless heart-felt and honest. Lewis is a special driver.

    11. @CarsVsChildren. In person or phone call: apologises to 1 person. On twitter: apologises to hundreds of thousands of followers. Ive no doubt he will resolute with them in canada.

    12. Ali G got on Lewis twitter account.

    13. I never meant to offend no one

      I’m sure I’m not the only pedant who read this and thought: so, you did mean to offend someone!

      1. Kids these days, eh?

    14. Good on him. Regardless of what he said I’ll always like him, but to apologise and man up earns my respect.

      As for his comments – the worst thing about them was the complete overreaction and soapbox and armchair criticism from everyone. 700 comments on an F1 Fanatic article? Jeez…

      And to anyone criticising or questioning his apology – grow up and move on please.

      1. I just wish he apologized for knocking them both out of the race, but that would be too naive from me, wouldn’t it?

        1. He apologized to Pastor and Felipe what does he owe you? Nothing, move on.

    15. Just saw “Senna” documentary today and It couldn’t be more appropriate.

      Being brazilian and having watched him race when I was a kid, I really rate him as the greatest myth in any sport…

      Seeing it as an adult now, I can identify the same hot-blooded personality for which Hamilton is crucified now.

      Lewis really did spoil Massa’s and Maldonado’s races, was far too aggressive, but they were almost as harsh on their defence than he was attacking…

      The worst part of all was his unfortunate comment, not the racist-victim joke, but calling his colleagues “ridiculous” for something he was, at best, as guilty as them…

      But Hamilton once again proved his bravery: he was brave enough to say he is sorry…

    16. I can understand the apology to Maldonado.

      But in his shoes I would not apologize to Massa because Massa has in a recent past begged for sanctions to be placed on Hamilton and has also viciously impeded his progress even when totally outclassed in previous races. As a matter of fact it seems that Felipe’s new job is not racing but to secure Alonso’s back as much as possible.

      It is obvious Massa resents Hamilton for “having robbed him of his deserved WDC”.

      If I were Lewis I would see him as a mortal enemy on and off track.

      1. I think he would be better served to apologise for being so harsh in the heat of the moment.

        Even if what you say is true – and do take into account that Massa also was disappointed when he was asking for those penalties, and annoyed by Hamilton remarks, most likely, and he also has had a couple of tough years since the disappointment of ’08 – it doesn’t harm Hamilton to be decent to him, even if he wouldn’t be able to be decent to Hamilton.

        Maybe Hamilton has to be more careful with being on track near Massa, knowing that Massa somehow is apt to defend aggressively towards him, but off track how would it help him to create animosity? Even with Alonso he seems to have come to a sort of reluctant respect by now.

      2. kenneth Ntulume
        31st May 2011, 15:59

        i second

    17. PassingZone
      31st May 2011, 1:50

      Sounds like a heart to heart from daddy cooled him off and wised him up regarding his own performance and responsibility. The apologies should have been, and hopefully were, made personally to both Massa and Maldonado for ruining their races.

      Still, the consequences should be greater in the Maldanado incident than an irrelevant, non consequential 20 second penalty. A 5 grid spot penalty in Canada would be more appropriate.

      1. If you look at this picture
        http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/1350/f12011race6monacoracehd.jpg
        it becomes clear that Maldonado did intend to and indeed closed the corner to the extent of having both wheels on the apex marker. I can be sad or argued that Maldonado is in fact going over the chicane and gaining and advantage through it.

        Therefore a penalty on Hamilton is misplaced.

    18. That’s the best he can do.The damage is already done but by doing this may help him a little.

    19. An apology was needed that is for sure, but I fear the damage has already been done and I am not talking about Lewis’ relationship with the other drivers. His decision to openly criticise the stewards may come back to haunt him at a later date when he has far more to lose than what he did at Monaco. We all remember Spa 2008 after all, the race in which Hamilton was stripped of first place which was instead given to then title rival Felipe Massa.
      In Hamilton’s defence, he is not the first driver to complain in public about stewards decisions. Fernando Alonso let fly in Valencia last year following an incident involving Lewis for instance. However, its the rascism accusation that is going to leave a few collars ruffled, even if it were meant in jest.
      As others have suggested, the positive thing about Hamilton is his ‘personality’ and willingness to speak his mind in a way like Villeneuve and Montoya did before him. And they were certainly not afraid of offending anybody were they? However, the frustration in Hamilton is there for the world to see.

    20. I like hot headed racers, but Hamilton is still committing mistakes that are beneath a world champion…he’s a great driver, but does have personality issues…he still has to learn to sustainably keep his mouth shut…

    21. Thanks J & Robyn. Mr Flanders needed to be told. As well, I don’t really think when U tweet, text, post on FB, etc Ur sposd ta wuri bout. I wk in the biz and many celebrities do this. Yer gram- mar. Doesn’t mean one don’t ;) know how to speak with perfect diction or write well. Idiots…, oops I’m sorry. Dummies.

    22. We seem to be in a culture of botched overtake equals penalty. The maldonado incident should have just been a racing incident. No reprimand, no penalty, just a consequence of a ‘Race’

    23. Here we go again……..

    24. wow! lewis has turned a corner, at least in the fans eyes. 2 yrs ago the comments were full of haters talking irrationally about him, his personality, his true skill etcccczzzetera.

      Maybe its because he doesnt win as much nowadays but whatever the reason, the sport certainly would be weaker without him. He is a Villeneuve type after all rather than a Prost metrognomic (sic) driver.

      trouble is hes got a reputation now so drivers may feel they can turn in on him and he’ll be reprimanded.

      Regardless of whether maldonado or massa shouldve turned in, it is true to say that the sport needs more drivers to seize the moment, not less. And as Brundle said, its 75/25% in terms of the chance of having an incident at the hairpin regardless of circumstance.

      1. This is absolutely true – but, you cannot simply give carte blanche to Hamilton (or any driver for that matter) to take a low percentage pass (25/75), knock out other drivers and call it a day…. Massa was also racing someone in front. (I’m not going to argue ad nauseum as some people simply want to believe what they want to believe.)

        As Sir Jackie said here – http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91891

        Stewards have a lot of information available (that we don’t) – and now a DRIVER who is part of their decision making – they handed Hamilton a meaningless 20 second penalty for the Maldonado incident – perhaps to say “this was not your first and only overly ambitious move today that took out a competitor – we are watching”…

        The most distressing part of Hamilton’s actions was his total disrespect to other drivers and lack of ownership of the blame… but he is still very young…. we can all hope…

    25. Christopher Vissing
      31st May 2011, 11:57

      saw this on his facebook page.. love the fact he keeps his writing language all gangsta :D

    26. The damage is already done, when will Lewis learn not to throw his toys out of the pram whenever anything goes wrong? As a former Lewis fan, I am no longer one.

    27. I predicted that on sunday. He’ll say stuff and 2 days later come up with an apology.

    28. im not sure where this “gangsta” speak comes from. i live in west london and pretty much every kid talks like that, black or white, from Staines or from Chiswick- well ok not Chiswick. Lewis speaks no differently to any estate kid. I think its fine to gently mock Lewis but its not a put on afer meeting Biggie Diddy or whomever.

      All power to someone who wears his heart on his sleeve, he used to be criticised for being too much of a company boy. he truly is a marmite man, probably even in Denmark.

    29. Younger Hamii
      31st May 2011, 13:26

      Overall i completely Hated what Lewis said on Sunday and i thought the way he drove this Weekend was completely reckless and Unacceptable and i thought that this was not the Lewis Hamilton i Knew.But he Spoke his Heart and Mind out with real Honesty and Emotion and that really should be touching to Formula 1 Fans at the Moment.The Lewis Hamilton that i Know was relatively calm towards the end of His Interview and was mature as well as commenting on Twitter,Apologising to everyone he probably offended over the Grand Prix Weekend.

      This is obviously coming from a Lewis Fan and to be honest right now we can critcise Lewis and respect what he said as much as we want but its in the Past and we should look forward to Montreal Next Weekend and seeing Lewis recover from all of this with another POLE POSITION AND RACE VICTORY!!

    30. lewis was voted the best driver at the spanish grand prix,and he was great in china too.
      he has one bad weekend and ppl judge him on that.
      what he did in the race has been blown out of proportion.he said some stupid things,we all do when we are frustrated,and we’re not trying to win a world championship.
      anyway he apologizes for what he did,and ppl still arent happy.
      bottom line is,he was punished for both incidents,and he’s apologized for what happened.that good enough for me.

      1. It is good enough, you’re correct. However people will always jump all over bad news, it makes for far more interesting headlines. This will be forgotten come Valencia (it will be featured in the Montreal build-up).

    31. Robert Edwards
      31st May 2011, 13:59

      I’ve followed F1 for some 40 years now and obviously remember the battles between Senna, Prost, Lauda, Piquet, Mansell, etc. I was at Monaco in 1984 and saw Senna in the Toleman. I was furious when Ickx stopped the race! What gorious years!!! Many young fans today didn’t live that era and have no way of comparing to today’s sport. The Spanish and English press had a field day with Lewis and Fernando in McLaren. This week-end we’ve had Lewis’s outbursts and very mixed and diverse coments from around the world. But I see it this way… Hamilton is currently the most spectacular driver in F1 today. We all compain when the sport is boring. This year it is much better with the new regs. But it’s never boring when Kewis is driving. And that’s the way I like formula1.

    32. sounds like he is sucking up. everyone one saw his true colours, its too late for pr apologies.
      its a constant cycle, first he blames everyone, then he apologises only when he sees the public swing against him. he has to be a bigger man at the first step and be able to take defeat. to be considered a winner, you also have to be a gracious loser. but its getting worse with hamilton, he hasnt matured in f1, infact he is acting more spoilt, previously he mainly moaned if the car wasnt good enough, now he moans at others for his own mistakes.

    33. Has anyone noticed that Maldonado made more than one blocking move down the ‘straight’? Why was this not noticed by the stewards? Is it a result of the straight not really being straight, that helped this avoid detection?

    34. maldonado clearly weaves infront of lewis and turns in too early.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYiNKYaviZI

      it should have gone down as a racing incident.

      1. Maldonado was defending but then changed back to the racing line to take the corner properly. If he was weaving to defend, it wouldn’t be a racing incident, it would be Maldonado getting the penalty.

    35. keith remember hamilton is fighting for the championship, he was not going to sit behind those slow guy’ or slow cars’ he had to use his tactics to pass them, but they lack expriance thats why the accident happened . Look at him and schum both have expriance there was no accident

      1. I don’t think I’ve ever said Hamilton isn’t fighting for the championship and should have just stayed behind the other cars, so I’m not sure you’re getting at.

      2. That’s funny, Massa has a lot more experience than Lewis in F1. First of all he drove for Sauber a few years before going to Ferrari, something Lewis didnt do and shows everytime he opens his mouth.

    36. And remember guys once some one say sorry they need to be forgiven we all do mistakes in our life . stop all the crap you talking let lew fight for the championship his the only one who can stop the bull,lol

    37. hamiltons overtake of schumacher

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0R4XqZEUrQ

      hamiltons overtake of maldonado.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mOw-qbgBTo

      if you pause the video at 13 seconds youll see how deep maldonado cuts in.his 2 wheels are not on the curb,half of his car is over it.

    38. I knew Hamilton would be tripping over himself to apologise. I can’t imagine he’s lost many fans. Might not have gained too many but irrespective of how reckless he was in Monaco I can never hold it against a driver for sheer determination. He’s not a vindictive guy, he just wants to win.

    39. McLaren will be my favorite team always! But, I don’t understand them since the season 2007 when they relinquished the title to Ferrari. Regarding the circumstances that was only logical thing to do but…, it was quite obvious that a colored man would win F1 championship in his rookie year. Unthinkable and unacceptable by some.
      Freaking ridiculous? Not really, when you have a FIA president with Nazi background and bunch of people that endorsed him and took advantage from his term of service.
      I think that McLaren team, instead of forcing Lewis to apologize, should be more supportive in situations like this. Or, if they find it to hard to be supportive, at least to be…, I don’t know…, more human I guess…

    40. Most people commenting here have never been involved in any competitive sport before, and certainly not at the highest level. They do NOT understand the desire to win and how it encompasses, define and shapes a persons life; This is why they expect sportsmen to behave like robots in the heat of competition.

      Most people criticizing Lewis would have said far far worse if they had gone through the kind of weekend Lewis had a Monaco. It really p****s me off!

      The guy is human for Gods sake! His desire to win is clearly above most of the grid; save for Alonso, Schumacher and Vettel – and we all know how they behave when things go against them, or they lose.

      We say we want racing, but vilify the best racer on the grid when it goes wrong, vilify him for speaking his mind, vilify him for apologizing, even vilify him when his team makes a mistake that costs him dearly!
      And in this case, he CLEARLY was NOT at fault for both incidents. I agree with Lewis that Massa must indeed be stupid; as its not the first time that he has tried to turn the car overtaking him into a pile of Lego bricks. He is even known for destroying his own race just to stop another car from overtaking him.
      Lewis has NEVER been involved in an incident where another car has attempted to overtake him – This cannot be said for Massa, Webber, Vettel etc, and i dont see crowds out trying to hang and quarter them! At worst, this was a racing incident for Gods sake.

      I just hate it when underachieving couch potatoes who cant do a tenth of what a sportsman does suddenly become experts on sports psychology and start criticizing the said sportsperson when he does something wrong. They have no idea what it take to reach the highest echelons of your sport, the effort, hard work, sacrifices and sweat. Yeah, you may have read about , but if you have NEVER been in any physically demanding competitive sport at the highest level, you just need to shut up and slink back to your unfulfilled existence, instead of criticizing those that have the guts to do it! Rant over!

      1. I hope that’s not a dig at me, because I ‘have’ raced around Monaco!

        And sometimes you realise that barging your way through the opposition is more likely to make things worse, rather than better. Hamilton was lucky to come away with the points he came away with at Monaco, regardless of whether or not he had received any penalties. His car won’t always come off best.

    41. Thank You so much @kpdavies! I have wanted to convey that sentiment forever here… Jeez, you would think the Man has committed a capital offence.

    42. I’m sorry, kbDavies!

    43. Check out these great photos and analysis of the Hamilton/ Schumi and then Maldanado overtakes. Causing an avoidable accident? Looks like it was Pastor that caused the accident to me when like schumi he could have avoided it and scored more valuable points for williams.
      http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8572/hamiltonmonaco2011t1.jpg
      http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/3797/hamiltonmonacoturn1b.jpg
      These moves should be encouraged not penalised. Crazy for DiRista to be punished and subsequently Lewis twice!

    44. Douglas 62500
      1st June 2011, 12:22

      Well remember that he hinted at the fact that Vettel was not a very good loser ? Looks like to me he is in fact that kind of person…. Shame. Rapid driver he is, no doubt about it, but while he could control his car, he doesn’t seem to be able to control his emotions…

      1. That’s pretty much what I take from this…I don’t mind LH, but in reality I am indifferent to how he does, but my thing with him is as follows…one year the WDC was his to lose, and he lost it…the following year the WDC was his to lose and he only barely squeaked the win on a day that FM did everything right when the pressure was at it’s greatest, and in fact ‘owned’ a WDC for about half a lap. No matter the circumstances with Glock’s super slow lap, point being LH didn’t stamp his authority on the WDC that day. He came within a hair of losing it a second year in a row. You could argue he did everything right throughout the season to put himself in a WDC position, but I’m talking about as the season winds down and the pressure is at it’s greatest.

        So after Monaco I am left still wondering the same thing…can LH handle the pressure when it is at it’s greatest?…I still have doubts…this weekend wasn’t even one where the pressure should have been at it’s greatest for LH. What will he do if he is actually in a WDC fight as this season evolves? I lean toward him not handling the pressure well.

        Perhaps by heaping so much pressure on his team to improve the car, LH also then cornered himself into upping his game too…and overdid it…overdrove it…

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