Hamilton: I was wrong to call Sirotkin ‘disrespectful’

Five-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has retracted his comments after labelling Sergey Sirotkin “disrespectful” following the pair’s near-miss during Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying.

Hamilton and Sirotkin narrowly avoided a collision in Q2 as the Williams driver caught up to a slow-moving Hamilton as both were preparing to start their respective flying laps.

The Mercedes driver initially accused Sirotkin of pulling off a “disrespectful move” he described as being “completely unnecessary”, while Sirotkin felt Hamilton had done nothing wrong.

Hamilton has since moved to clarify his stance on the incident, admitting he was wrong to pin the blame on the Russian.

In an Instagram post on Sunday morning, Hamilton wrote: “Morning world. I woke [up] this morning feeling I should correct some of the words I used yesterday.

“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.”