Michael Schumacher apologised to Rubens Barrichello by text on Thursday for almost forcing his former Ferrari team mate into a wall at this month’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Formula One’s seven-time world champion had said sorry on his website after the August 1 race in Budapest but Barrichello told reporters at the Belgian Grand Prix that the Mercedes driver had also sent him a message on his way to Spa-Francorchamps.
“I just received a message from him today, funnily enough,” said the Brazilian, celebrating a record 300th GP this weekend. “I just said thank you, no problem. Life goes on,” added the 38-year-old Williams driver. Schumacher, asked at a later news conference whether he would apologise face-to-face, made clear that he had intended no coldness in sending a text message rather than speaking personally. “I have no problem to speak to Rubens, absolutely indeed,” he said.
“One of the main reasons I sent the text was because it is his 300th grand prix and we have quite a history together so I thought it was appropriate to congratulate him and clarify the point. He sort of felt that I wanted to push him against the wall and very clearly this was not my ambition. I wanted to race very tightly but without any wall in contact and to clarify this point, if he felt that was the case, then I was sorry for that,” added the 41-year-old Mercedes driver.