Mercedes-bound Lewis Hamilton has been forced into an embarrassing apology after criticising current McLaren team-mate Jenson Button.
The British driver, who will leave McLaren for Mercedes at the end of this season on a three-year deal, criticised Button for ‘unfollowing’ him on Twitter after his decision to join the German team came public
Hamilton, who finished fifth at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, and Button have had their issues at McLaren this year.
“Just noticed @jensonbutton unfollowed, thats a shame. After 3 years as teammates, I thought we respected one another but clearly he doesn’t,” Hamilton had tweeted on Monday.
“Funny thing is, we are STILL teammates! All good tho, I plan on giving this team & fans all I got til I cross the finish line in brazil!!!”
However, the news wasn’t accurate and Hamilton later had to backtrack in an ugly incident played out in public, showing the pitfalls of Twitter for well-known people.
“My bad, just found out Jenson never followed me. Don’t blame him! Need to be on Twitter more!” he later wrote.