MONACO, May 28 - Michael Schumacher apologised on Sunday, while still protesting his innocence, to anyone who suspected he had tried to manipulate Monaco Grand Prix qualifying in his favour.

Ferrari's Formula One driver Michael Schumacher of Germany and his manager Willy Weber (R) ride an electric scooter as they arrive for a free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo May 27, 2006. [Reuters]

Speaking after Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso had won the race, and having salvaged something by finishing fifth after starting last, the Ferrari driver said he had a clear conscience.

"Anyone who thinks that I deliberately wanted to wreck Alonso's lap is wrong," he told Germany's RTL television.

"And to those who think that, I can only say 'I'm sorry that it happened'.

"But that was certainly not the intention because I was not even aware of where Alonso was. We didn't have radio contact and I did not have any knowledge of who was driving out."

Race stewards ruled on Saturday that the seven times world champion deliberately stopped at the slow penultimate corner of the track in the dying seconds of qualifying to prevent rivals from beating his time.

He was stripped of pole position and Alonso, who qualified second, promoted in his place.

"I'm used to living with criticism and in certain situations you just have to live with it," continued Schumacher, who remains second in the championship -- albeit 21 points behind Alonso -- and set the fastest lap of the race.

TOO CHICKEN

"I think that there is a lot of prejudice involved, because no one was really sitting in that car and knew how and why everything happened as it did.

"Without knowing the situation we had and what I felt, no one else is really in a position to accurately judge what happened from the outside," said the 37-year-old.

"I have to admit that certain things must have looked a bit curious from the outside but there were reasons for that and I don't really want to elaborate on it. It's not really anyone else's business either."

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