BUDAPEST,  (Reuters) – Michael Schumacher apologised to  Rubens Barrichello yesterday after almost driving his former  Ferrari team mate into a concrete wall in a 300kph duel at the  Hungarian Grand Prix.

The seven-times world champion said on his website  (www.michael-schumacher.de) that he agreed with the stewards’  decision to hand him a 10-place penalty on the starting grid for  his next race, the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of the month.

“After I watched the incident with Rubens again, I must say  that the stewards were right with their assessment; the  manoeuvre against him was too hard,” he said.

“I wanted to make it hard for him to pass … I wasn’t  trying to endanger him with my move. If he felt I was, then I’m  sorry. This was not my intention.”

The Mercedes driver finished 11th in Sunday’s race at the  Hungaroring while Barrichello took the final point for Williams  after holding his nerve and forcing his way past.

Schumacher, returning to Formula One at the age of 41 and  after three years in retirement, said Sunday’s race was one of  the toughest he had experienced so far in his comeback.

“It was pretty edgy to drive the car on the limit, so I had  to fight my way through the race and at the end it was like  walking on ice,” said the German, winner of a record 91 career  races but so far without a podium finish this year.

On Sunday he had described the scrap with Barrichello as a  “hard fight, and this is what we are here for” while also  accepting that the stewards felt it was too hard.

Barrichello saw it differently, telling reporters afterwards  that he had been millimetres from the wall in what he said was  the most dangerous manoeuvre he had experienced in a career that  reaches 300 race starts in Belgium.

“I like a fair fight but that wasn’t fair here,” said the  Brazilian.