• Japanese Grand Prix - FP2

Hamilton admits to 'pushing too hard too soon'

Lewis Hamilton admitted he made a mistake in FP1 © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Japanese Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Lewis Hamilton

• Teams:
• McLaren

Lewis Hamilton admitted he was "pushing too hard too soon" after he crashed out of Friday practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver was on his second serious run of the morning session when he bottomed out in Degner One and ran wide and into the barrier at Degner Two. The mistake, his third serious one in as many races, meant he missed over two hours of practice and also damaged one of McLaren's new rear wings beyond repair.

As a result he was over two seconds off the pace at the end of the second session and is hoping his team can fly out new components overnight to make his car as competitive as possible.

"I damaged the car in the early laps of the first session," Hamilton said. "I was only on my second fast lap, and was probably pushing too hard too soon. I didn't go that wide - it wasn't that big an off - but the gravel was very slippery at that point. A couple of other drivers had moments there and got away with it. But that's life.

"The guys in the garage did an incredible job to rebuild the car - they really had to work hard, and they got me out for the last 10 minutes of the second session. They are so supportive in this team: if one person is down, they'll do their best to lift that person up. That's what we do as a team."

He said he was still optimistic that, with the new rear wing and a high chance of wet weather, he could be competitive in qualifying on Saturday.

"I had to run the older rear wing in the afternoon, so I didn't really get a proper feel for where the car is. And, hopefully, we'll have a second new rear wing for qualifying and the race. Tomorrow's another day - and it looks like it's going to rain, so everybody will have to start again.

"They say bad things come in threes - so after Monza, Singapore and today, I hope this run of bad luck is over and done with."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.