Lewis Hamilton knows he "f***ed up big time" with the crash which cost him a place on the Singapore Grand Prix podium on Sunday.
The Brit finished ninth after surviving the treacherous track conditions at Marina Bay. But he barely did so, after a self-inflicted crash which very nearly saw him join half-a-dozen other drivers who failed to make it to the chequered flag.
He was chasing down third-placed Carlos Sainz and pushed too hard on the still-damp track at one corner, which meant he failed to stop in time. As a result, he slammed into the barrier and instead lost a place to Lando Norris.
Remarkably, despite damage to his front wing, Hamilton was able to continue as the softer Tecpro barrier meant he suffered a less destructive impact. But still he was apologetic over the radio, as he told his team: "I'm so sorry about that guys. I f****d up big time man."
He was still on course for eighth place and was hunting down Sebastian Vettel in seventh in the late stages of the race. But Hamilton then made another small error as he tried to overtake on a damp patch, and instead went very wide to allow Max Verstappen to move through.
His ninth-placed finish, along with team-mate George Russell crossing the line dead last, meant it was a weekend to forget for Mercedes. "I think we started off with a pretty decent weekend and were just really, really unfortunate at the end," said Hamilton.
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Sky Sports F1)"It was difficult to overtake and that lock-up into Turn 7 – when those things happen your heart sinks a little bit. Potentially we could have undercut him but it was a battle of who got on the slicks first and then it would have been slice and dice so I was hoping for that and that's what I was working towards but it all went out the f***ing window when I locked-up.
"But you get back up again and you try and tried to get past Seb but it was wet on the inside [and that caused the second lock-up]. It wasn't the greatest day but I'm looking forward to tomorrow. My apologies to the team but we live and we learn and I'll recover."
The result was a blow to his chances of a top-five finish in the drivers' standings. With five races to go, Hamilton sits in sixth place but is 32 points adrift of Carlos Sainz one place above him. Just 35 points separate the Spaniard from Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc in second, setting up a tense battle for the runner-up spot in the final weeks of the season.
