Trident Formula 2 driver and Haas F1 Team junior Santino Ferrucci has issued an apology following a difficult weekend which saw the American driver receive a two-round (four-race) ban by British Grand Prix stewards.
Ferrucci collided with his team-mate Arjun Maini during Sunday's sprint race and then again during the cooldown lap, which was deemed to have been a deliberate act by the 20-year-old.
Ferrucci also reportedly refused to attend the post-race hearing, despite being summoned by the stewards. This led to a €60,000 fine and a two-round ban, whilst his own team called it an "unsportsmanlike" action.
In a statement issued on Monday, Ferrucci claims he never intended to hit his team-mate on purpose whilst also apologising to his team, Haas and the sport's bosses.
"I want to send my sincerest apologies for my actions on Sunday at the FIA F2 race at Silverstone Circuit. I used extremely poor judgement at the conclusion of the race getting far too close to my team-mate Arjun and swerved away only to graze his tyre, very fortunately causing no damage or issue to his car.
"There was no intent, premeditation or any type of retaliation by my actions, only anger and frustration as this has been a horrific year. I have no excuse other than the fact that I am a twenty year old Italian American with a deep passion for motorsport, which is a very emotional sport.
"While there has been much provocation leading to my mental lapse, it is still not an excuse and I will make sure that this does not happen again.
"I realise I have embarrassed many people and I apologise to my sponsors, Trident, my fellow drivers, Haas F1, FIA, FIA F2, my fans, friends and family."
It comes as Haas are reportedly considering Ferrucci's future as their junior driver, whilst it's unclear if Trident will take their own action.
Ferrucci's statement added that claims he refused to attend the post-race hearing are untrue, and that he actually had to attend a drugs test before catching an urgent flight home to the US.
"I also want to apologise to the FIA Stewards for not being able to attend the hearing. I was randomly selected for a drug test, as were others, and this delayed my return to the paddock by over an hour. At that point I very quickly packed and had to leave for the airport to catch an early afternoon flight back to the US to attend to an extremely urgent time sensitive family medical issue.
"I was notified of the Stewards meeting as I was leaving and did send an email to my team manager to forward to the Stewards explaining that I had no options but to leave."
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