- Brazilian GP - Race
Spin cost me victory - Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton says he has no-one to blame but himself for the spin he thinks cost him victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton failed to find a way past title rival and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in a tense battle, but spun before his second pit stop after a blisteringly fast lap. Later in the race Hamilton told Mercedes his tyres would only last for one lap next time he was told to push, suggesting he was unhappy with not pitting immediately after Rosberg.
However Hamilton says that was not the case and is under no illusions how costly a mistake it was.
"I think ultimately it cost me the race," Hamilton said about the spin. "I was much quicker up until that point and then on that lap I'd gone a second quicker. I thought I was going to pit at the end of that lap so I used everything in the tyres, so the next lap I had nothing left. At the end of the day I made a mistake, I locked the rears into Turn 4 and with the under rotation it just spun me round -the second time it happened this weekend. Nobody's fault but mine.
"I just took too much out. When they told me to push I was under the impression I had only one lap to do so I used all the tyres I had saved. When they told me to go by I kept pushing but the rears were grained, the rears were dead, and they lost a lot of the grip. Up until then it was looking great. Overall I'm really happy, I clearly had a lot more pace than Nico today and I know he would have seen that by closing down the seven seconds. But he did a good job to not make any mistakes while I was there so I'm looking forward to the next race."
Hamilton will go into the Abu Dhabi finale leading the championship by 17 points, a gap less secure than it would have been because of the controversial double-points rule, knowing that second position will secure his second drivers' title.
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