Schumacher Apologised to Heidfeld

Schumacher was heavily criticised by his fellow drivers in a drivers' briefing today, with a source present at the meeting telling Autosport-Atlas the crash between the German was the focus of a 30-minute long debate.

"The drivers discussed the accident between Michael Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld for about 30 minutes and it was decided Schumacher was in the wrong," the source said. "They voted 19:1 that Schumacher should apologise to Heidfeld. He accepted the decision, stood up and verbally apologised in front of everyone in the room."

Schumacher refused to accept the blame after the incident in Melbourne, in which he came out of the pits and forced Heidfeld onto the grass heading into turn three.  The pair collided and Heidfeld's race was ended immediately. Schumacher was pushed out of the gravel trap and returned to the pits but was also forced to retire from the race.

Schumacher reacted sternly to reporters when questioned over the crash and said: "I have seen Nick and it is all over. Now is the time to throw this topic away, it's finished."

Heidfeld said he was disappointed that he was forced out of the race by the World Champion, but the Williams driver added that he is now ready to forget the incident and move on.

"It was not the position we would have wanted to be in," Heidfeld told reporters at Sepang. "The team would have wanted both cars to finish the race in Melbourne.

"It's (the crash) all over now. I don't need to think about it anymore, it's not important anymore. I just want to concentrate on doing well for the team in Sepang and I am looking forward to the race."