Sato apologetic

Takuma Sato apologised to his Jordan team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella after colliding with him on the second lap of the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Takuma Sato apologised to his Jordan team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella after colliding with him on the second lap of the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Sato, who is in his first season of Formula One, clipped the back of Fisichella’s car, removing the Italian’s rear wing in the process. Both cars were forced to pit for repairs, Sato for a new nose while Fisichella lost a lot of time having a new rear wing fitted. Toyota has yet to score a point in 2002.

"I am really sorry about what happened with Giancarlo – I apologise very much as it shouldn’t have happened.

"I saw a Toyota pushing him going into the first corner and then into turn two they were side by side with me right behind them, Then, unfortunately, I moved across and went into the back of Giancarlo.

"I apologised to him immediately after the race and he took it very well, which I think says a lot of things about his character."

Fisichella said he accept his team-mate’s apology. "There is no denying that Takuma made a mistake by hitting me and that this damaged our chances of scoring points.

"Anyway, he clearly feels pretty bad about it and there is no point dwelling on it – I think he has learnt his lesson."

Team owner Eddie Jordan also took the incident in his stride and said he does not think Sato will make the same mistake twice. "It was clearly upsetting to see our two drivers have an incident.

"There’s no doubt today was a lesson learnt for Takuma and that he cost Giancarlo possible points.

"But the way both drivers dealt with a difficult situation says a lot about them; Taku not only apologised to Giancarlo, but also went round the entire team to say sorry. "Giancarlo took it all extremely well – a clear sign of his maturity."