McLaren's Lewis Hamilton apologised to his team after what he described as a "disastrous" Indian Grand Prix weekend, though his team have insisted that Hamilton should not need to apologise, but simply learn from his errors.
After enjoying a return to form in Korea, Hamilton's 2011 season took another turn for the awful in India.
The McLaren driver picked up a three-place grid penalty for the race after ignoring yellow flags during Friday practice.
He then ran down in sixth place for most of the race, before suffering another collision with Ferrari driver Felipe Massa.
The 2008 champion ended up limping home in 7th place, after complaining of damage to his car from the clash.
And after another troubled weekend in 2011, Hamilton admitted that his Indian GP had been "disastrous", and apologised to his team.
"I'm sorry for the team," he said to TV reporters after the race.
"They always do a great job every weekend, so to disappoint them like this...Just big apologies to the team, my sponsors, after yet another disastrous race. It's been an eventful year."
He also apologised for what he described as a "negativity that surrounds me", saying that he was working on getting himself back on track as soon as possible.
Hamilton's personal issues have been a talking point after the McLaren driver cut a sullen and moody figure at the last couple of races.
He recently announced a split from his girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, and has also endured media criticism for a number of ill-timed comments throughout 2011.
"I just can't apologise enough to my team for the negativity that surrounds me nowadays," he muttered unhappily.
"I just have to try and keep my head up and recover from this for the next race."
But despite the lengthy apologies, McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh said that Hamilton should not worry about apologising for mistakes, but should simply learn from them.
"I have said: 'Don't apologise, you're a racing driver. If you've made a mistake accept it, learn from it and move on'," Whitmarsh told reporters on Monday.
He explained: "[Lewis is] very analytical. He's very serious about trying to do the best job he can. He's much too hard on himself.
"I've known Lewis for a long, long time and he's been like it since he was a kartist, and he would beat up on himself. That's his way. That's his psychology. That's how he motivates himself."
The McLaren boss also refused to speculate on the effect Hamilton's private life might be having on his racing performances.
"He is a professional racing driver in this team and I will contain my comments to him as a professional racing driver," Whitmarsh warned.
"As a professional racing driver he drove brilliantly at the last race [at the Korean GP]. He made a mistake on Friday but he was completely open about it.
"It's not for me to speculate on his personal life."
Earlier in the Indian GP weekend, Hamilton had vowed to re-focus his attention on his driving in preparation for 2012, saying he would "live and breathe" F1 next season.
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