08/06/2006
NEWS STORY
Michael Schumacher has said that there will be no further apologies for the incident in Monaco, when he was found guilt by race stewards of deliberately stopping his car on track during qualifying, and thereby wrecking the chances of several other drivers who were still on flying laps.
Though the incident took place two weeks ago, it has rarely been out of the headlines, with fellow drivers demanding the German attend a meeting of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) to explain his actions.
Asked at Silverstone today if we will apologise to his fellow drivers, the German said: "I have made that already. I said to you guys on Sunday that whoever believed I did that on purpose, to hinder somebody's lap times, I am sorry for that, that was not the purpose. That was not what happened.
"What happened, has happened," he added. "I feel sorry in a way that it had to happen but certain things simply do happen. If somebody wants me to go down on my knees and beg for something, I think that would be rather ridiculous."
Although some drivers seem happy to move on and forget the issue, others, amongst them, former championship rival, Jacques Villeneuve, clearly feel that the German should answer for his actions.
"Sometimes in life you just have to bite the bullet and admit you've been an idiot," the Canadian told reporters, when asked about the GPDA meeting. "Everybody makes mistakes at critical moments but then you have to be big enough to just say 'Oops, sorry guys, that was really stupid of me and it was embarrassing' and life carries on.
"If you try and make people believe that actually you didn't do it on purpose then actually you just look stupid," he added. "Personally I am not happy that someone can run the GPDA and act like that."
Fernando Alonso, one of the drivers most affected by the Monaco incident feels it is time to move on, having revealed that he will miss the meeting: "Sometimes no time, sometimes no interest," he said.