09/06/2011
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton has escaped punishment for comments made in the wake of the Monaco GP, when he joked that his treatment by them might be due to the colour of his skin.
Borrowing the line from British comedian Ali G, when asked why he'd been in front of the stewards so many times this year, including a drive-through and a further time penalty for incidents during that particular race, he joked; "maybe it's because I'm black?".
While some saw the comment for what it was, others didn't, even the BBC claiming that his "outburst overshadowed" the race.
The Woking outfit's PR team went into overdrive, and while Hamilton texted his apologies to his fans, the two drivers he'd described as "fricking" idiots and just about everyone else, attention turned to how the FIA might react.
Ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, Jean Todt has revealed that the English driver wrote to him personally apologising for the comments.
"Lewis wrote to me and I wrote to him," the FIA president told the Telegraph. "I did not advertise it. It's between him and the FIA. I could have asked our judicial court to address the problem. We never officially opened the case. He went to the stewards to apologise after the race. He went with his father.
"Maybe it would have been a better decision to put him to the court," he added, possibly a reference to what might have happened under the old regime. "To ban him for six grands prix. But he wrote to me and I wrote to him and the thing is over."
No doubt Hamilton will face further comments about the incident when he appears at the FIA press conference at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve later today.
Let's just hope he's not wearing a silver, red and black Mankini.