Hamilton puts heartbreak behind him
But the British rookie vowed to put the bitter disappointment behind him and focus on what he needs to do to secure the title in Brazil in two week's time. Hamilton dominated the wet opening stages in Shanghai, but stayed out too long on an increasingly worn set of intermediate tyres and lost the lead to Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari on lap 29.
By the time he finally gave up the unequal struggle two laps later, his rear tyres were worn almost down to the canvas and he lost control of the car on the left-hand bend in the pit entry, sliding into the gravel and out of the race.
“We were having a great race," an emotional Hamilton told ITV Sport’s Louise Goodman.
“We didn’t know whether it was going to rain or not and the tyres that I was on were just getting worse and worse. At the end I could almost see the canvas underneath. I was coming into the pits and it was like ice. I couldn’t do anything about it."
Hamilton said he could feel the tyres were in poor condition because the car was handling badly, but had been awaiting a call from the team to pit for new rubber.
"The thing is, my mirrors were completely dirty so I couldn’t see through them, so I couldn’t see my tyres but it just felt like they were completely finished," he explained.
“And I was coming in that lap, so it could have worked out perfectly. I think we had the pace in the dry.
"It’s unfortunate, I'm sorry for the team, they did a fantastic job as always." ITV/F1.com