No malicious intent in 'Destroy' Hamilton comment

Ferrari have denied claims that Felipe Massa's race engineer Rob Smedley wanted to literally 'destroy' Lewis Hamilton's Singapore Grand Prix.

Ferrari made the remarks in their 'Horse Whisperer' column after some F1 fans took the recently released radio communication between Smedley and Massa to mean that Ferrari had pre-planned to take Hamilton out of contention at the night race.

The comment that got everyone talking was made just one lap before Hamilton collided with Massa. Smedley told Massa: 'Hold Hamilton as much as we can. Destroy his race as much as we can. Come on, boy...'

VitalF1.com user Villaininthemerde was one of many who questioned whether the call meant to do more harm than slow the McLaren driver down, but Ferrari deny this to be the case.

'It's true that Felipe Massa's race engineer was caught up in the heat of the moment and chose to use the verb 'destroy' at some point. the article on the Ferrari official website reads.

'It might not have been the most politically correct choice of word, but it definitely carried no malicious intent, especially when you take into account that Rob is a Middlesbrough lad, born and bred!

'It is also true that this exhortation to Felipe came at the exit to Turn 5 on lap 11 of the race, at the end of which both the Ferrari man and Hamilton were due to come in to the pits together. In other words, it had nothing to do with the collision between Felipe and Lewis that happened on the following lap.

Whether the comments will be enough to put the latest saga to one side or not is doubtful and all eyes will be on Hamilton and Massa as the duo continue their heated rivalry in Japan this weekend.