As the teams and drivers fall over themselves to endorse the FIA's 'Make Roads Safe' campaign, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton has been forced to issue an apology after being stopped by police in Melbourne for "over-exuberant" driving as he left the circuit today.

Precise details are unclear, but the 2008 world champion was stopped and questioned by Melbourne police after an incident in which he is said to have performed a "burnout and fishtail" as he left the Albert Park track.

According to news agencies, police constable Scott Woodford claims that the rear wheels on Hamilton's car were skidding as he accelerated out of Albert Park. "Given that Melbourne's on the world stage with a lot of interstate and international visitors, we would expect drivers to observe road rules," he said.

A spokesperson for the Victoria police added: "The vehicle was seen to deliberately lose traction and was intercepted. The driver, a 25-year-old man who resides in Switzerland, was spoken to at the scene and is expected to be charged on summons with improper use of a vehicle. The vehicle, a 2010 Mercedes, was impounded for 48 hours and the driver returned to his hotel."

Hamilton subsequently issued an apology through his team. "This evening, I was driving in an over-exuberant manner and, as a result, was stopped by the police," he said. "What I did was silly, and I want to apologise for it."

Today's episode comes a year after the Englishman was found to have lied to race stewards during an investigation into an on-track incident which was to become known as the Liegate scandal, an episode which, he later admitted, caused him to give serious thought to quitting the sport.

Earlier this afternoon, the McLaren driver topped the timesheets in the second free practice session... his car, like those of his rivals, sporting a "make roads safe' logo in support of the FIA's flagship campaign.

While there is no doubting that Hamilton is one of the finest drivers in the world, however, such over-exuberance by a lesser mortal could, and usually does, have far more serious ramifications, and consequently the youngster’s actions make a mockery of the sport’s governing body’s high profile campaign.