Hamilton apologises to team over crash

5:09pm Friday 4th April 2008

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LEWIS Hamilton has apologised to McLaren for the smash that will leave his mechanics working through the night to fix the damage.

The world championship leader was involved in his second accident of a Formula One weekend ahead of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix and conceded the shunt ten minutes from the end of the second practice session was of his own making.

"The car was quite badly damaged, but the team will do a good job to fix it," said Hamilton. "I apologise to the guys, but this is racing. This is what happens and I'm fine about it. I'm just eager to get back out there."

The 23-year-old lost the rear end of his car through turn six of the Sakhir Circuit before sliding sideways across a run-off area and with some force into a tyre wall.

"It didn't hurt, and was just one of those things," added Hamilton, who suffered severely bruised ribs after ploughing nose first into a tyre wall at the Nurburgring in qualifying for last year's European Grand Prix.

"Saturday's another day, and we've a good car, so I feel quite comfortable."

Hamilton and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen both trailed the Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and world champion Kimi Raikkonen throughout the two 90-minute sessions.