Hamilton error keeps title alive

Shanghai, 5-7 October, 2007

Lewis Hamilton's world championship lead was slashed to just four points after the McLaren star retired from a dramatic Chinese Grand Prix.

The Englishman slid off the track on his way into the pit lane to change his tyres in a tricky wet-dry race.

He had already ceded the lead to Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and was being pressured by team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Raikkonen won from the Spaniard - and they will stage a title showdown with Hamilton at the final race in Brazil.

Hamilton leads with 107 points, ahead of Alonso on 103 and Raikkonen on 100.

Hamilton had led from the start on a damp track and appeared to be on his way to a second brilliant victory in a week following his triumph in Japan.

The 22-year-old had a lead of more than eight seconds when he made his first pit stop on lap 15 of the 56-lap race.

That was cut to four by Raikkonen by the time the Finn had made his stop four laps later, but Hamilton still appeared to have the race under control.

The Briton's hopes started to unravel as the track began to dry a few laps later.

After his early burst of pace, his tyres started to wear out quicker than those of his rivals.

Raikkonen quickly closed in on Hamilton, who held his title rival off for two laps before falling foul of his lack of grip.

The McLaren ran wide going into turn eight on lap 29, allowing Raikkonen to sneak past on the inside at the next corner.

Having given up the lead and losing seven seconds to Raikkonen on the next lap, questions will be asked why McLaren did not pull Hamilton in earlier to change his tyres.

And then it all went wrong.

His right rear was completely worn out - a white line appearing around its circumference - as he battled to stay in front of Alonso on lap 30.

And coming into the pits, the rear of the car twitched away from the Briton as he tried to turn into the left-hand corner at the start of the pit lane.

Hamilton corrected it, but the car slid straight on into the gravel trap, where it was beached.

Hamilton tried to get the car out, but the rear wheels spun helplessly and, after imploring the marshals to help him, he finally admitted defeat and climbed out of the car.

"The tyres were getting worse and worse and I came into the pits and it was like ice. I couldn't do anything about it," said Hamilton, who ducked questions about why the team had not brought him in earlier.

"I couldn't see in my mirrors, they were completely dirty. I could just feel there was no grip. I was coming in that lap. It's unfortunate. But there is still one more race to go - I can still do it.

"When I got out of the car I was just gutted because I hadn't made a mistake all year, and to do it coming into the pits... Well, it's not something I normally do."

Back on the track, the action was just as dramatic.

Raikkonen and Alonso came in for dry tyres together on lap 32.

The McLaren driver came back on to the track right in front of Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who had been running on his dry tyres for some laps and had more grip.

But once he had cemented his position, Alonso began to carve into Raikkonen's lead, cutting it from more than 15 seconds to eight within eight laps before the Ferrari driver responded to stabilise the gap.

Raikkonen controlled the race for the remaining laps to take his fifth win of the season - one more than either Hamilton or Alonso, a fact that could be crucial at the final race.

Drivers tied on points at the end of the season are separated by a win countback.

Source: BBC Sport