LEWIS HAMILTON was left to rue his misfortune, after admitting the technical problem he suffered during his first pit stop ruined his chance of a podium place at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Hamilton picked up four points for finishing fifth in Sepang but saw his lead in the drivers' standings cut to three, after Kimi Raikkonen claimed a comfortable victory to re-establish Ferrari's championship credentials.
Having started ninth on th
e grid because of a five-place demotion for impeding BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld during yesterday's qualifying, the 23-year-old made an excellent start to jump to fifth after the first lap. Stuck behind Mark Webber during the early stages, the McLaren driver was running second when he came in for fuel and fresh tyres.
But a problem with a wheel nut on his front-right wheel cost Hamilton more than ten seconds, ending hopes of a stronger result – although he almost snatched fourth from Toyota's Jarno Trulli towards the end of the race.
"We were in a good position for a shot at third at least – but then I had the problem in my first stop, which cost me a lot of time," he said. "Without the penalty, I believe we could have finished second. But this is racing – those are the rules. We have to look forward to the next race; we're still leading. I did the best job I could.
"I got a really good start and was pretty happy to jump five places from ninth to fifth. I was pushing Mark (Webber] for a long time – but being behind someone, no matter how quick you are, it's really difficult to get past.
"But we can take away the fact that the car ran very reliably in extreme conditions, and I was able to push Jarno (Trulli] right until the end."
McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh agreed with his driver's assessment.
"It did cost him a podium place, definitely," he said. "The wheel nut wouldn't come off the mechanism. The guy on the gun did a fantastic job. He had to switch to a different gun, and that sheared the pins to get the nut off.
"It cost Lewis two things – around ten seconds in the stop and track position, because he was stuck behind Webber."
Hamilton had, by his usual high standards, struggled throughout the weekend to produce a competitive pace because of grip problems around the 5.543km circuit.
Whitmarsh said: "Lewis was comfortable until Saturday morning – and through Saturday, due to a combination of things, he was struggling for grip by comparison to even Heikki (Kovalainen].
"We under-performed. We didn't do a good enough job to get the points out of this weekend."
He nevertheless praised Hamilton's performance, despite the setbacks. "We saw vintage Lewis throughout the race," he said.
"I think with the equipment we gave him here, he did a great job; near the end he was pretty quick but he couldn't get there quick enough to take that place."
The full article contains 509 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
