Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Silverstone, 2018

Hamilton accepts Raikkonen’s apology for collision

2018 British Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton says he accepts Kimi Raikkonen’s apology for their first-lap collision in the British Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver initially accused the Ferrari pair of “interesting tactics” following the second first-lap collision involving the teams’ drivers in three races. He later said the post-race press conference that he did not have concerns over the team’s tactics.

Raikkonen accepted responsibility for the collision and said he deserved his 10-second penalty. Hamilton said in a series of social media posts that he had received and accepted an apology from his rival.

“Kimi said sorry and I accept it and we move on. It was a racing incident and nothing more,” said Hamilton.

“Sometimes we say dumb shit and we learn from it,” he added.

Hamilton fell to the back of the field following the collision but recovered to finish second in yesterday’s race. Afterwards he declined to participate in the post-race interviews because he was “struggling to stand” due to tiredness.

“I lost nearly 3kg trying to get back to the top today for you and the team,” Hamilton wrote. “I barely had any energy at the end of stand let alone talk.

“If you can’t understand and appreciate that then I fully understand. However was nothing to do with anger, literally just exhausted both physically and emotionally.”

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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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55 comments on “Hamilton accepts Raikkonen’s apology for collision”

  1. No choice but to change his tune. He and Mercedes were making a mockery out of themselves with their half-hearted allegations.

    1. This is Merzedes Reality show.
      Main figures:
      Baby Lewis, Toto nonwolf, james ??? @ company

    2. Indeed, they were wide open for a libel case with zero chance of winning it.

      1. Errr…

        You best check up on something called slander..

        I did not notice LH grab a pen and write anything libellous – even if he had written it, the term ‘interesting tactics’ would certainly not be grounds for anything legal.

        It can be argued they were interesting judging by the column inches written on the subject!

  2. memo from Dieter Zetsche’s office to Toto, Lewis and Niki no doubt.

    1. Probably after an angry call from a no nonsense Sergio Marcchione.

  3. No apology from Hamilton / Toto for the ridiculous comments?

    Do understand the pressures/disappointment and words said just after the race, but it would have been much more classy to make an apology instead of just brushing off the words.

    1. @blackbox
      I do not want to defend anyone here, but all Lewis really said was “they used interesting tactics”.
      So i believe he is safe

      As far Allison, it looks cheap especially with him having previously worked for Ferrari. I suppose he will come out with an apology.

      1. Yes, but it was said within the team, and maybe even just between Allison, Toto and Nicky, it should have stayed that way, bad form on Toto for making a comment made indoors public

      2. Invisiblekid
        10th July 2018, 1:08

        Yeah I dont know exactly how Lewis meant it, I could see it as “lets not be too careful at the corner and see what happens”

        But it was never going to read like that and it was a huge mistake to say it, true or not.

  4. What a great man, an apology via Twitter #theyforcedmetodothis

    1. Yes, almost as insincere as Kimi’s fake apology.

      1. Kimi fake? Hahahahaha

      2. Kimis the most honest / real guy out there

      3. This must be your first year watching F1. You clearly don’t know who Kimi is.

        1. Yea I do, he’s the pig ignorant one. Honest and real? You mean he busts a gut giving it 100% every race? Even his own fans are telling him to retire and let the seat go to someone who deserves it.

    2. Let’s face it whatever he did you would find a way to criticize it, so.

      1. No way. Should I say he did an outstanding job with his lap in Q3? Yes he did. Like he did on so many other occasions. Lewis is an incredibly talented driver and has an amazing amount of speed in his hands. He’s bigger than the already big machine he drives.

        But he’s ruining his reputation with all the whining lately. He never takes responsibility for his mistakes: he was in pole position yesterday and yet said that they need to lock the entire front row: how about learning how to start without spinning, since both contacts with Vettel and Raikkonen were due to the fact that Mercedes is slower at starting?

        He started to see ghosts, and as a Ferrari fan, I’m very happy about that. He can only be beaten if he’s not focused.

        Apart from that, the more the battle heats, the more we’ll have polarized positions. I constantly read comments about how Vettel is bad in this and that, so I’m doing my part in pointing out Lewis weaknesses, joking on those. I think it’s part of the game.

        1. You see, most of us stop after your first paragraph. People have personalities, often characterised by their upbringing. I’m watching sport, not a soap opera. I’m not going to criticise a sportsman I admire just because I don’t think we would be mates. But apparently the never ending bile towards anyone remotely successful in this sport love their soaps.

    3. Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Merc overlords had to step in to limit any possible brand damage.

  5. Bronze arrrows
    9th July 2018, 13:59

    James Allison is a disgrace and incompetent car designer.

  6. Well his comments yesterday were out of line, so I for one, applaud him for apologizing. Toto and Allison should as well.

    1. er, he didn’t apologise. He ‘accepted’ an apology lol.

  7. That’s why they interview them as soon as they’re out of the car before they’ve had time to look at replays and analysis properly for comments like this. He’s taken it back, it should be a non-issue now…but it won’t be, people cling onto every driver’s word said in the media. Apologies all round, onto Germany! Great season so far.

    1. i can understand the driver, esp. an emotional one like Hamilton. Equally Niki is known to have short temper and say whatever comes to his mind (like his compatriot Helmut Marko). However, I was pretty disappointed with Toto, he should have known better.

      1. But is it really too much to ask drivers to have a bit of composure?

        Yes they’re emotional and competitive but cmon, they’re also adults and professionals.

        1. True, I don’t disagree with you and didn’t say I condone it. Just said under adrenaline rush it is understandable that they say things they regret, as Seb also defended another driver.

          A Team Manager though is a different story. Toto and Horner are extremely immature in their reactions when things don’t go their way and lash out at friend and adversary alike.

  8. ADUB SMALLBLOCK
    9th July 2018, 14:27

    This is a highly competitive sport, and emotions run high. As Hammy said, sometimes people say stupid things. Hell, F1 used to have fist fights! I thought the comments by Hammy and Mercedes were poor, but hell, move on.

  9. Hamilton might need to look at his lifestyle choices if he’s barely able to stand after that race. It’s not exactly Singapore.

    Vettel survived with no trouble despite a significant neck problem.

    It’s not like Hamilton had to drive spectacularly. He passed opponents like he was overtaking on the highway such was the straight line advantage of the Mercedes.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      9th July 2018, 16:42

      Actually, Hamilton’s lap times were incredible. The Ferraris were on fresher, quicker tyres and Hamilton was matching them in a slower car. It was very impressive especially considering that the Ferrari was probably the faster car yesterday.

      If Vettel were driving as fast, he would have put a 30 second lead over Bottas before the safety cars and a minute lead without safety cars. Vettel did a great job yesterday.

      1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
        9th July 2018, 17:25

        Vettel only did what was needed for the win. Prost style race and car mgmt. All that with a strapped neck that would’ve been a hindrance regardless of what Vettel humbly said after the race.

        Hamilton was half way up the pack in a very short time after his spin such was his car advantage.

        Vettel got fastest lap too didn’t he?

      2. Agreed. Hamilton may have passed 11 cars without any effort but you could say he had a much more stressful drive after that.

      3. I think mercedes was at least as fast as ferrari, don’t forget the only reason bottas couldn’t keep them behind was having older tyres.

      4. Ferrari was certainly not the fastest.

        Vettel stuggled to pass the Mercedes despite having new softs and Bottas having shot mediums.

        Only reason Vettel was able to get close enough to pass was because of Bottas getting bit of a tank slapper coming out of the corner.

        Vettel was eventually going to get past though because he’s a better driver than Bottas and had 20 laps to do it.

        The Mercedes was passing opposition halfway down the straights. Incredible horsepower advantage they still having unfortunately (for the health of the competition of course).

      5. Slower car? You mean the one that was on pole? You’re really going with that angle?

        It’s nearly as insane as the comments from the Merc camp.

        1. Slower car? You mean the one that was on pole?

          Because only the faster car gets pole right? 100% time! Never in the history of motorsport has anyone claimed pole in a car that isn’t the fastest! You’re really going with that angle?

          It’s nearly as insane as the comments from Vettel about Pirelli making Mercedes custom tyres.

  10. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
    9th July 2018, 17:19

    Just when i didn’t think hamilton could be any more cringey… He goes and opens his mouth again. It’s this kind of behaviour that’s putting me off the sport because he’s supposed to be THE driver ambassador that reflects the sport in a good way.

    1. Would Vettel ramming Hamilton in Baku 2 years ago also count or him lashing out at Charlie Whitting register?

    1. I’m not a fan of doing tit-for-tat responses in the press but I’m glad he pointed out how insulting it is to suggest Kimi is “incompetent”. Kimi has his flaws but he’s been a legit driver for a long time.

    2. I would hardly say “He took a lot of money from us so he’d better keep his mouth shut” is a devestating reply, if anything, it’s worse!

      1. Which is disingenuous as it wasn’t the crux of the argument.

  11. Can’t wait for clean races were nothing happens and lewis destroys vettel even though vettel has the quicker car

    1. @carlosmedrano Not gonna happen buddy. If Vettel has the quicker car, he’ll win. If Hamilton has the quicker car, he’ll win.

      1. Indeed, I see hamilton and vettel as equal, each has his flaws and overall they’re pretty similar, the car will matter a lot if either of the 2 starts having a bigger advantage as the season goes on, for now they’re similar cars.

  12. I really could not care less about what they say. But people really love to throw rocks at these guys.
    Whatever they say, people will criticize.

  13. Toto was also exhausted?

    1. And James Allison?

      Mercedes will go to any length to soothe Hammy’s ego.

      Remember them fining Rosberg €300k when he clipped Hammy’s rear tyre at Spa 2014?

  14. Some times i fight with my wife and in the heat of the moment when my emotions are high i say things that i should not have said. When im cooled down i apologise for making an ass of myself….

    1. Except this wasn’t a marital fight, it was a sporting competition where he’s paid millions to compete every week and to act as brand and sport ambassador. Keeping composure is in his job description.

    2. But after a while being married, you learn that sometimes it is better to not say anything until you’ve cooled down.

      1. Thank you guys, all of you. The life lessons one learns nowadays @ racefans.net :-))

  15. I wonder how many people here being critical of Hamilton were as critical of Vettel last year when he accused Hamilton of brake testing him, deliberately drove into him and then spent weeks both refusing to apologise and refusing to acknowledge he did anything wrong.

    Or were critical of Vettel when he accused Pirelli of effectively breaching their contract and sabotaging the sport by making custom tyres to support Mercedes at the expense of other teams at the Spanish Grand Prix (only to then take it back when it turned out he was talking nonsense … he didn’t apologise for his comments though ) ?

    In comparison Hamilton saying “interesting tactics” is nothing and stinks of double standards.

Comments are closed.