Maldonado, Massa, confirm Hamilton said ‘sorry’

Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Massa have revealed that Lewis Hamilton apologised personally after Monaco two weeks ago.

As well as making his controversial “because I’m black” comments after the famous street race, McLaren’s Hamilton also labelled Maldonado and Massa “ridiculous” and “stupid” in the wake of his in-race crashes.

“I talked to him.  He called and apologised,” Venezuelan Maldonado is quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE in Canada.

“It’s a racing thing and it’s over.  I think I paid the consequences of a bad weekend he had, but hopefully it won’t happen again,” added the Williams rookie.

Maldonado, who said the lost points in Monaco were “very important” to the British team, praised Hamilton’s “gentlemanly” act of contrition and confirmed he has “behaved very well” since the outburst.

Brazilian Massa, Hamilton’s championship rival of 2008, was not quite as forgiving but he also confirmed Hamilton telephoned to apologise.

“Everything I said about Lewis after the Monaco race is what I felt,” said the Ferrari driver, who had called on the FIA to impose race bans.

“Then he called me and he said sorry and the most important thing is that he understood what he did on track.  So, this is fine and the matter is closed,” added Massa.

© RIF | GMM