Lewis Hamilton admits he's fortunate not to be in a worse title position following his struggles at the Italian Grand Prix.
McLaren star admits luck was on his side at Monza
Lewis Hamilton admits he's fortunate not to be in a worse world championship position following his struggles at the Italian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver crashed out on the opening lap at Monza after hitting Felipe Massa's Ferrari and yet Sunday's result still minimised the damage in terms of his place in the standings.
Although Hamilton lost his lead, he is still second overall just five points behind Mark Webber after the Red Bull driver could only finish sixth.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso won to boost his own title hopes, as has Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button, who finished second having led the majority of the race's 53 laps.
Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, finished fourth leaving the five championship contenders separated by just 24 points with five races left.
"If going into the race you had said I wouldn't finish but I would be in this position, I wouldn't have believed it," Hamilton said.
"I'm obviously very fortunate everyone didn't score the best. We're still in a fighting position, so we could afford one mistake.
"So I'm still looking ahead. I always want to go forwards. I never want to make steps backwards.
"In this race I didn't step back, I just didn't step anywhere. It's not often I don't make my steps forwards, but I can't always get it right."
Better equipped
Hamilton was quick to accept the blame for his demise, which came following an over-optimistic lunge at Massa at the Variante della Roggia chicane.
The Englishman attempted to carry on but quickly pulled off the track having suffered a broken steering arm.
He admitted that world championships can be won or lost on such incidents but said his growing experience would help him recover.
"I feel I'm better equipped now to deal with something like this than perhaps was the case a few years ago," Hamilton said.
"Of course it's mistakes like the one I made that can be the deciding factor in world championships, win or lose.
"But it's also how you carry yourself, how you pick yourself up, how you recover and how you bounce back that also determines, shapes a world champion.
"So I hope it's with these experiences that I continue to grow and improve."
Aggressive
Even so, Hamilton said such incidents would not lead him to temper his aggressive approach on the track.
"Of course, you always kick yourself when you make a mistake," he added.
"You kick yourself more than anyone can kick you, regardless of if your boss comes up to you and says 'well, we're all disappointed, but this is motor racing and you're still great blah blah blah'.
"Regardless of that you still kick yourself hard. It's just the way some people deal with it, and that's how I deal with it.
"If I hadn't have done what I did, I probably wouldn't be who I am because I do push, and that's me as a racing driver. That's how I do it."
