Lewis Hamilton says sorry after crash puts title chances in peril

13 April 2012

Lewis Hamilton was left apologising to his McLaren team following a first-lap crash of an Italian Grand Prix weekend to forget.

Hamilton admitted to making a mistake after qualifying with regard to his set up after choosing the wrong path in comparison to team-mate Jenson Button.

Reigning champion Button started from second on the grid, his first front-row start for 24 races, with Hamilton fifth surrounded by his title rivals.

It proved critical because although Hamilton passed Mark Webber on the long run down to the first chicane, he became entangled with Ferrari's Felipe Massa at the second.

As the front-right wheel of Hamilton's McLaren caught the left-rear of Massa's car, it resulted in a broken suspension and his second retirement in the past three races.

"I made a good start, gained a position, got up to fourth, and at that moment perhaps I should have just stayed there for a while," said Hamilton.

"But I put my car up the inside of Felipe trying to get third, and that was probably a little bit too much.

"I was trying to position the car in a certain way, but I was too close to Felipe and his left rear clipped my right front.

"The car was damaged after that, and there was nothing I could do. You try your best, but some things just don't go your way.

"It's a shame, and I want to say sorry to the team.

"But the championship certainly isn't over, although I have to admit that days like this one don't help."

In contrast, Button led for the first 36 laps of the 53-lap race at Monza after avoiding Fernando Alonso's fierce attempt off the line to cut across the Briton.

Button was never able to shake Alonso off his tail, and in the end it came down to the one and only pit stop.

McLaren blinked first and called in Button at the end of lap 36, with Alonso following a lap later, with the difference 0.8secs in Ferrari's favour, enough to narrowly edge their man ahead.

Alonso eventually took the chequered flag by 2.9secs to a roar of approval from the tifosi (Ferrari fans) who swarmed the pit lane for the podium ceremony, with Massa also third.

After being t-boned by Sebastian Vettel in the Belgian Grand Prix, Button was relatively content with second, although feels the team made the wrong call to bring him in at that time.

"It was a very tough race mentally, and it was tricky holding off the challenge from behind," said Button of Alonso.

"I spent the first half of the race either looking in my mirrors or at the TV screens to see where Fernando was.

"Maybe it was the wrong call to pit when we did, but the team felt the new prime (harder) tyres were faster than the options (softer).

"But I couldn't find any grip on the new tyres, and lost a little bit of time on them. When I saw Fernando emerge just ahead of me, I was very disappointed.

"Overall we didn't quite have the pace to win. But this weekend was definitely a good one.

"I scored some good points, and this second place is very useful for my world championship hopes.

"There's still everything to play for over the next five races."

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