Lewis Hamilton believes title chances are over after disappointing Italian GP

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP signs autographs for fans at the paddock gates before the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at Autodromo di Monza on September 8, 2013 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton believes his title chances are over after a ‘difficult’ weekend in Monza. The British driver fell 81 points behind Sebastian Vettel following his ninth place finish in yesterday’s Italian Grand Prix and he believes he won’t be able to cover the gap in remaining seven races of the season.

“Obviously that’s that for the championship”, a dejected Lewis Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“That was a difficult weekend for me but these things happen and you have to say that it’s been a good year so far. I gave it my all out there today; the pace of the car was great but unfortunately we paid the price for not qualifying far enough up the field”, Hamilton reflected after the race.

Hamilton’s troubles started yesterday when he was impeded by his former friend Adrian Sutil in the dying moments of qualifying, which meant he could not continue with his run of pole positions. Instead, he got eliminated in Q2 and had to start the race from 12th place.

In the race, he encountered a slow puncture which forced him to a two stop strategy. To make his matters worse, he couldn’t hear his team over the radio, which subsequently delayed his pit stop schedule.

“It almost blinds you. You don’t know what’s happening in the race, you don’t know when to stop – even spotting the pit board is confusing because there are so many pit boards – and you don’t know when to push and when not to push. It just meant it was much more than me, but I managed.” Hamilton explained how tough it became after his team radio failed.

“I didn’t even know about the slow puncture until after the race so now it makes more sense why we had to make the extra stop.” he added.

Despite the troubles, Hamilton showed fantastic pace in his two stints on medium tyres – putting on some great overtaking moves and eventually finishing ninth in the race.

“I did have some fun this afternoon, particularly fighting with Kimi. It’s just tough fighting so far down the field when our car was clearly really quick.” said the 28 year old.

Mercedes‘ Team principal Ross Brawn acknowledged Hamilton’s troubles and appreciated how he performed in difficult conditions.

“Lewis’ slow puncture in his first stint obviously compromised his strategy by forcing us to make two stops. But he drove a fantastic fighting race, complicated by the radio failure, and got everything out of the car this afternoon to climb back to P9.” Brawn said after the race.

Brawn added that the result was disappointing because their car was genuinely competitive in the race.

“It’s a disappointing result and this weekend reminds us that we need to be on top of our game at all times if we want to maximise our potential. But this afternoon also suggested that we have a competitive car.” he added.