Spa-Francorchamps: Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher vented his fury on BAR’s Takuma Sato on Sunday after the Japanese driver took both out of the Belgian Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion went over to remonstrate with the Japanese after the 14th lap accident, shouting at him and then slapping him lightly over the helmet as he sat in the crumpled car.

Sato was later found guilty of causing the collision at the La Source corner, and penalised 10 positions on the starting grid for his next race which will be the Brazilian GP on September 25.

“We’ve often experienced hara-kiri reactions from him in the past, and that was another one today,” said Schumacher, adding that he could not repeat what he told Sato “because there are children watching.”

“We’ve talked to him about it in the past. I don’t know what sort of therapy might help him,” he added.

Asked how long it would take for his anger to abate, Schumacher, who has now failed to score points in the last three races, replied that he had no idea.

“Every accident is unnecessary, but this one seemed more unnecessary than usual,” he later stated.

“Obviously I am not happy about it. I did not see anything and just felt a bump at the rear of the car. It was stupid to finish the race like this when we had hoped the mixed conditions might help us.”

Sato has the reputation of an exciting but wild driver, seemingly fearless but also prone to risky manoeuvres on the track.

“There were very tricky conditions, I locked up the brakes and didn’t have the stopping distance,” he said.

Sato had no idea what Schumacher had said to him, since the race was still going on. He however added that he found Schumacher to be very upset. (Reuters)