Hamilton withdraws 'disrespectful move' comment about Sirotkin

Lewis Hamilton says that he was wrong to call Sergey SIrotkin's actions in Brazil on Saturday "disrespectful". The Briton came under fire after he and Sirotkin were almost involved in a collision during qualifying at Interlagos.

The pair were on out-laps and approaching the final corner, however they were doing so at much different speeds. Hamilton, who was ahead of Sirotkin, pulled to the left to try and give the fast appraoching Russian the racing line into the last turn.

Sirotkin also pulled to the left in a misunderstanding, but contact was avoided. Speaking after the session, Hamilton said that it was a disrespectful move by the Williams driver, but he has now retracted his comment after an overnight reflection.

“I woke this morning feeling I should correct some of the words I used yesterday,” Hamilton posted on social media. I was wrong it wasn’t a disrespectful move by Sergey, it was a misunderstanding and I honestly attempted to get out of his way. Didn’t work that well but shit happens and I respect the way he handled it.”

Sirotkin dismissed the incident on Saturday and insisted that he didn't have an issue with Hamilton pulling to the left. However, he disagreed that what he did was disrespectful.

“I think if you look generally what I am doing at the track there are not many other drivers who pay so much respect, especially to the leading cars, which I know are fighting for the title,” the Russian said on Saturday. “So I completely disagree, there’s not many people here who respect him as much as I do.”