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"I actually
didn't. I didn't actually spray him. I think there's a weird
picture but I didn't spray him. I definitely don't want anything
(to happen)," the Mercedes driver told Sky Sports television on
Monday with a smile.
Hamilton, who flew back home to Britain to join the team's
celebrations after they won their second successive
constructors' championship in Russia, has got into trouble
previously for his champagne-spraying antics on the podium.
He was criticized and accused of sexist bullying in April for
aiming a spray of champagne directly in the face of a Chinese
Grand Prix hostess in Shanghai.
That incident, highlighted in photographs that showed the woman
flinching, triggered condemnation in Britain and Germany as well
as on Chinese social media but the hostess herself played it
down.
Putin presented Hamilton with the winner's trophy on Sunday,
with the Briton starting the traditional champagne spraying
ritual before the president had left the podium.
Photographs appeared to show dark flecks of champagne foam on
the back of Putin's jacket as he departed.
Some media reports subsequently suggested Hamilton, who is now
on the brink of a third drivers' title, had 'soaked' the Russian
leader, leading to jokes on social media about what punishment
the driver might suffer.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in Sochi, editing by Ken Ferris)
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