Lewis Hamilton faces a police charge after his Mercedes road car was impounded by Melbourne police on Thursday evening.
Hamilton is expected to be charged with improper use of a vehicle after what he described as "driving in an over-exuberant manner".
Talking after going fastest in free practice for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, he told the BBC: "I was driving in an over-exuberant manner and, as a result, was stopped by the police.
"What I did was silly, and I want to apologise for it."
Police constable Scott Woodford reported Hamilton's rear wheels were skidding as he accelerated out of Albert Park, where the Grand Prix is held.
A Victoria police spokesman added: "The vehicle was seen to deliberately lose traction and was intercepted by police.
"The driver, a 25-year-old man who resides in Switzerland, was spoken to at the scene and is expected to be charged on summons with improper use of a vehicle.
"The vehicle, a 2010 Mercedes, was impounded for 48 hours and the driver returned to his hotel."
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Re: F1's Hamilton faces police charge
I'm not at university, I'm doing A-levels. I don't personally think the term Paki is acceptable, I know that it became associated with racial hatred, but I'm just confused, because every white person I know hates it and the few Pakistanis I know are fine about it and use it towards each other. Am I to assume that you're Pakistani yourself?
Re: F1's Hamilton faces police charge
I understand it was widely considered offensive, but, given that, whenever one of my Pakistani friends does something stupid, the others all say "you stupid bloody Paki", while laughing and patting him on the back and generally being affectionate, what is a naive, inexperienced young thing like me to think? I was once (falsely) accused at school (aged 13) of using it towards a Pakistani pupil, and my defence that, although I hadn't used it, I didn't understand why it was considered unacceptable, got me into deeper trouble than just having used the term would have done. I can understand also that you, as an Ulsterman, could have a problem with being called Mick - I don't need to tell you anything about the relationship between England and Ulster (or England and Eire, for that matter). How do you cope when someone is called Michael? Do any Ulstermen called Michael get abbreviated names? If so, is Mick ever used? And why was Mick used to refer to Ulstermen especially? Or is it just Catholics?
Re: F1's Hamilton faces police charge
nice publicity for merc amg no doubt
well done Lewis keep up the good work!