Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton defused the minor furore that had arisen after pictures on the podium at last week's Chinese Grand Prix showed him spraying Liu Siying, a 22-year-old graduate of the Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, with champagne.
Liu had already largely dismissed the condemnation and told the Shanghai Daily: "It lasted for only one or two seconds, and I didn't think too much about it. I think some foreign media are more sensitive about the topic than local media. I was just told by my employer to stand on the podium, and that's what I did."
Hamilton said he was relieved to hear Liu's comments, and that it was a "fun thing" in celebrating a win.
"I would never intend to disrespect someone or try to embarrass someone like that," added the Briton. "It's nice to know that the lady wrote in - if it had been the other way and she'd wrote in and she was really unhappy, then perhaps there would be more concern." - GUARDIAN