Lewis Hamilton believes his spin inthe middle of Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix was the key moment of the race that allowed his Mercedes team-mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg to win.
The pair, who have been battling for the Formula One drivers’ title for most of the season, are separated by 17 points going into the final race in Abu Dhabi on 23 November, when double points will be on offer to all drivers.
“I think ultimately it cost the win,” said Hamilton of his spin. “I was much quicker up until that point and on that lap I had gone one second quicker as Nico pitted. I thought I was going to pit at the end of that lap and on the next lap I had nothing [left on the tyres].
“At the end of the day I locked the rears into Turn 4 and under rotation that spun me around, the second time it happened this weekend – no one’s fault but mine.”
Rosberg said he had learned important lessons after his defeat at the US Grand Prix a week ago. “Austin was a tough day for me and it was important for me to improve,” he said. “I didn’t do a good enough job in the [US] race. Today I managed to do that. That I am happy about: I learned from Austin and did better, so that is a big step in the right direction.
“It was a great race with Lewis just behind me and I needed to make sure the gap was such that there was no chance for him to go for the overtake, unlike Austin, which was good. It is still all to play for. I need to keep this going.”
However, the hero of the grand prix for the Brazilian crowd was Felipe Massa, who was third for Williams despite making two mistakes. “I think the race was amazing, everything happened in my race today,” he said. “I am so happy but not happy with my mistake today.
“I just had a problem when I came for the [first] pit-stop. I pushed my limiter but it didn’t go. I think I could have lost the podium in that mistake with the penalty for five seconds.”
He added: “I was so disappointed it happened, then I was pushing even harder, but the problem is you cannot push so hard as you use too much of the tyres. I managed to take care of the tyres and managed to have a good pace straight away.”
Massa made a second mistake when he went into McLaren’s pit instead of his own. “They changed our garage this race, and we are a lot more in the middle,” he said. “And McLaren, with similar colour, I thought it was our garage. So I lost a lot of time with that but I was pushing again, managing the tyres and opening the gap again compared to Jenson [Button]. It was really a fantastic race. The people are still here, screaming, the whole energy is difficult to explain. Amazing.”
