The championship leader Lewis Hamilton tried to stay positive following a disappointing Japanese Grand Prix that saw his advantage narrowed to five points. The Briton could only finish 12th following a chaotic race at Fuji. He out-braked himself badly at the opening corner after a poor start, causing other cars to run wide, for which he was later given a pit drive-through penalty, before he later collided with title rival Felipe Massa on lap two and spun to the back of the pack and out of contention.
The McLaren driver said: "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. But you can't undo the penalty or change today's result. On lap two, Felipe went wide and I went up the inside, giving him room, but he tapped me quite hard into a spin.
"There are positives to take; I've only lost two points to Felipe in the drivers' championship, so it's definitely not over. We've got two more races to go and my target is still to win both." @Email:gcaygill@thenational.ae
