Hamilton reflective

In Brazil, albeit for a small spin, Lewis Hamilton could have extended his Formula One World Championship lead.

A big push ahead of the second pit-stop had seen ‘Hammer Time’ close the gap to leader and team-mate Nico Rosberg.

However a misunderstanding between team and driver led to that advantage being lost and the chance of a six successive victory and eleventh race win of the season evaporated.

For Hamilton, he thought that he would only have a single lap to try the undercut, whilst his team gave him two laps to try and create a bigger gap.

Unfortunately for the 2008 Formula One World Champion, his tyres just didn’t have enough life in them to push that hard for two laps at the end of the stint and he spun, losing seven seconds.

‘Naturally, you’ll always be disappointed when you make a mistake and I did that today. But honestly, I felt great out there. The car was strong, my pace was good, I didn’t give up, kept pushing and made up the time so that’s what’s most important to me. Generally, when I’m told to push it means the team is bringing me in that lap so that’s what I did. In the end, they left me out for another lap which caught me by surprise. By the time I came round to do the second lap my rear tyres were gone from where I’d been pushing so hard. Even so, it was my mistake locking up the rears and ultimately that cost me the win.’ Hamilton told formula1.com.

He continued: ‘Nico drove a great race – defending well and not making any mistakes. But it’s clear I had the pace. It’s not a big deal, though. That’s motor racing. Obviously, I lost some points which is disappointing.

The Formula One World Championship is now split by 17 points, which means that it is still in Lewis Hamilton’s hands.

To claim a second world championship Hamilton knows he must finish second to clinch the title.

‘The car is just fantastic – the best I’ve ever driven – so a big thank you to the team for all their hard work. I’ll be pushing just as hard in Abu Dhabi and hopefully we’ll get to have another great race like we saw today.’