Schumacher offers apology to Alonso fans
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-29 09:19
MONACO, May 28 - Michael Schumacher apologised on Sunday, while still
protesting his innocence, to anyone who suspected he had tried to manipulate
Monaco Grand Prix qualifying in his favour.
Speaking after Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso had won the race, and
having salvaged something by finishing fifth after starting last, the Ferrari
driver said he had a clear conscience.
"Anyone who thinks that I deliberately wanted to wreck Alonso's lap is
wrong," he told Germany's RTL television.
"And to those who think that, I can only say 'I'm sorry that it happened'.
"But that was certainly not the intention because I was not even aware of
where Alonso was. We didn't have radio contact and I did not have any knowledge
of who was driving out."
Race stewards ruled on Saturday that the seven times world champion
deliberately stopped at the slow penultimate corner of the track in the dying
seconds of qualifying to prevent rivals from beating his time.
He was stripped of pole position and Alonso, who qualified second, promoted
in his place.
"I'm used to living with criticism and in certain situations you just have to
live with it," continued Schumacher, who remains second in the championship --
albeit 21 points behind Alonso -- and set the fastest lap of the race.
TOO CHICKEN
"I think that there is a lot of prejudice involved, because no one was really
sitting in that car and knew how and why everything happened as it did.
"Without knowing the situation we had and what I felt, no one else is really
in a position to accurately judge what happened from the outside," said the
37-year-old.
"I have to admit that certain things must have looked a bit curious from the
outside but there were reasons for that and I don't really want to elaborate on
it. It's not really anyone else's business either."
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