Stewards accepted racist joke explanation - Hamilton

Pastor Maldonado has revealed he will not be talking to Lewis Hamilton after the Monaco grand prix.

McLaren’s Hamilton was penalised 20 seconds for their crash and after the race ranted about the Williams rookie, who had driven a strong race in the Principality, as well as his 2008 title rival Felipe Massa.

"These drivers are ridiculous," said the Briton. "It’s stupid.

"People want to see racing, but you get done trying to put on a show," added Hamilton.

Maldonado told Germany’s motorsport-magazin.net he won’t bother trying to talk it through with Hamilton, 26.

Asked if the McLaren driver apologised, he replied: "No, and I won’t try to discuss the incident with him. That wouldn’t serve any purpose."

Ferrari’s Massa also returned fire at Hamilton, who had blamed the Brazilian for their in-race crash for which he was given a drive-through penalty.

"Massa held me up in qualifying and I got the penalty. Then he turned into me (in the race) and I got the penalty," said Hamilton.

30-year-old Massa was not impressed.

"What he did today was unbelievable," said the Ferrari driver. "Not just with me, but with other drivers as well. He needs to be penalised again and in a good way — otherwise he doesn’t learn.

"He deserves at least a one race suspension," Massa is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Hamilton did learn quickly from his poor joke about the stewards - including former Toyota driver Allan McNish - picking on him "because I’m black".

He returned to the circuit late on Sunday to clear the air.

It is believed McLaren was worried its driver’s comments might have brought the sport into disrepute.

"They accepted my explanation, they understood," said Hamilton after the late stewards’ meeting.

"We all shook hands. They said they would make sure other people in the FIA understand and clarify it with anybody else who has heard it and misunderstood," he added.