Eurosport - Mon, 13 Oct 15:54:00 2008
Formula One World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton has shrugged off his disappointing finish in the Japanese Grand Prix and turned his focus on to the final two races of the season.
The McLaren driver started on pole but after impeding Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at the first turn he then collided on the second lap with title rival Felipe Massa to end his hopes of a podium finish.
In the end, Hamilton finished a lowly 12th while Massa completed the race in eighth before being promoted to seventh after Sebastien Bourdais was struck with a time penalty after the race.
That saw the Toro Rosso driver drop to 10th, allowing Massa to collect a vital two points and close the gap on Hamilton in the driver standings to just five.
"There are positives to take," said Hamilton.
"I've only lost two points to Felipe in the drivers' championship, so it is definitely not over.
"Now I will forget [the race] ever happened and move forward. We have got two more races to go and my target is still to win both of them.
"I am not happy after a result like today but I'm already getting over it and tomorrow will be another day.
"Disappointingly, I didn't make a great start but I slipstreamed Kimi and went up the inside. I braked a bit late - but so did everybody.
"A lot of cars went wide at turn one and I just went a bit wider than everyone else.
"On lap two, Felipe went wide and I went up the inside, giving him room, but he tapped me quite hard into a spin."
Massa also let slip pole position in the previous race in Singapore to finish 13th and knows all too well that fortunes are capable of changing in an instant.
"It could have been better but it could have been worse looking at where we started and where Lewis started," said the Brazilian.
"We cannot leave here saying it was a disaster, it could have been better in terms of points but we at least finished in front [of the McLarens].
"You have to think race-by-race. Maybe you come here and you have a difficult result but in the next race you are very strong again.
"For me it will be two very difficult races. They [McLaren] can be very strong but so can we and we need to believe that."
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this expensive money waster must be halted
this expensive money waster must be halted
this expensive money waster must be halted
this expensive money waster must be halted
this expensive money waster must be halted
this expensive money waster must be halted
Ferrari Inernational Assistance, nice innit?
Bourdais' penalty should be annulled because the incident was before the 20 minute window to the end of the race and therefore should have been decided while the race was in progress.
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Let's face the truth the authority's don't want LH to win the are obviously biased to towards Ferrari & will try to punish him when they can
all that highly PILLUTTING f1 racing must be halted banned
Hamilton needs to stop driving too aggressively and recklessly . He makes too many stupid decisions at the worst times. It is hard to sympathize with someone who intentially tries to take other drivers out. If he wants to be a true champion, he should do it with sportsmanship and class not by cheating and whining !!
THE INCIDENT AT TURN 1 ON THE FIRST LAP
When the reporter spoke to Alonso after the race Alonso said that he and everyone overshot the corner because they were caught out by coldness in tyres and track. He said that if anyone had managed to take the apex he would have driven into the side of them. This does not excuse LH but if they all did it why so much aggro for one driver
wot total nonsense the nincompoofeters write on this site ,.. so childish gybes
To Yien Fuang: I agree with you wholeheartedly.
when kova took webber out of the race it was exactly the same accident as massa and hamilton and they got the same penality so why should massa get a bigger one especially if u compare the 2 mistakes hamilton took with him at least 3 drivers. And as for Massa's manoeuver on Webber well let me tell u that its not THAT different from the ones Hamilton did on Glock or Webber or Alonso at Monza. I don't understand Hamilton's Fan cause before they were wining about how massa doesn't overtake and is boring and the day he started passing people their wining about the way that he has done it == shows how stupid and narrow minded they are
ALONSO DESERVES THE TITLE AGAIN
CONGRATULATIONS TO PRETTY ALONSO DOUBLE WORLD CHAMP
FAR SUPERIOR DRIVER
If Lewis braked so late why didn't Kimi just brake early, stay on the track and take the position on the inside? Reality is he got into a bad position because Kovalainen was also on the inside. It was just a racing incident no need for a penalty.
touronroute,WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT FACT THIS FACT THAT THIS IS A REAL FACT SHUT YA MOUTH AND WATCH THE RACE AGAIN IF THAT WAS HAMMY SIDE SWIPING MASSA HE WOULD HAVE GOT MORE THAN A DRIVE THROUGH IVE SAID IT BEFORE AND I WILL SAY IT AGAIN THE FIA WANT FERRARI ON TOP EVERY YEAR NO MATTER WHAT DAMAGE THEY CAUSE TO THE OTHER TEAMS ITS SO SAD IT COMES DOWN TO MONEY.2 RACES LEFT AND WE SEE A MIRROR IMAGE OF LAST YEAR FERRARI TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE FIA JUST TO WIN A POXY RACE
terama119 - about 'Once again we see that Farrari are being 'helped' by the F1 bosses, just like when Schumaker was a Farrari driver'
Give me one exemple of FIA helping Schumacher especially that he didn't even need their help cause he was winning by miles.
Touronroute - youre a very shouty angry person aren't you? And anyone like that should really get the facts right before spouting off. If you want facts it's simple. Hami was at fault for the first corner and deserved a penalty but Massa deserved an even bigger penalty for taking Hami off, and undertaking through the pit lane. But the biggest fact of all is that Bordais didn nothing wrong and has yet beem awarded a time penalty for the simple reason of granting Ferrari another point. If this season hasn't shown anyone that the FIA are in bed with Ferrari then they are blind. Fact.
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