Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton’s collision in the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday was a potentially championship-defining moment, yet neither driver was laying the blame on the other after the race.
On lap 35, shortly after a restart from a safety car period, Webber was trying to pass backmarker Lucas di Grassi of Virgin. Hamilton, sensing an opportunity, ran up alongside Webber in the run toward turn seven and got his nose in front of the Red Bull.
Webber was unwilling to give up his inside line and, when Hamilton turned in, there was contact. Hamilton went into a semi-spin and his race was finished, with damage to his left rear tire.
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Webber was fortunate to continue — his Red Bull unharmed by the contact — and went onto third place and extend his championship lead to 11 points, with a buffer of 20 points over Hamilton in third. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is second with 191. The Canadian Press
His disappointment was clear when he threw his steering wheel from the car before clambering out.
The failure to finish followed a similar scenario in Monza two weeks ago when he made contact with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari.
Sunday’s retirement leaves him 20 points behind Webber in the championship race with four Grand Prix to go after the Australian finished third here.
But the Briton isn’t ready to throw in the towel yet.
“There are still four races to go. I’m 20 points behind Mark, and that’s a reasonable gap, but it’s not an insurmountable one,” said Hamilton, who won in Singapore last year.
“I guess I’ll just have to keep my head down and hope for the best.
“I’m not going to think specifically about the world championship right now, I’m just going to try to enjoy the rest of the season—and whatever happens happens.
“But I’ll keep fighting to the end, because it’s the only way I know.” AFP
Hamilton had run third from the start behind eventual winner Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull, but was passed by Webber when he made his pit stop for new tyres.
The Englishman tried to seize an opportunity to overtake the Australian after he got caught up by two backmarkers.
But as Hamilton tried to pass on the outside, the two collided and Hamilton’s race was over.
“I saw Mark made a mistake and got caught by a backmarker so I knew I could slipstream him into Turn Seven and I thought I was enough past him,” said Hamilton.
“After that I’m not really sure what happened, he was in my blind spot, I didn’t see him alongside me, next thing I know is my tyre’s blown and that’s it,” said Hamilton. “I’ll have to watch it on TV and see what really happened.”
“[With not finishing at the previous Grand Prix in Italy] I couldn’t have had a worse two races at this time of year. Hopefully myself or Jenson can still win the world championship. I have to get my head down and hope for something.”
But while Hamilton refused to point the finger of blame at Webber, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh was left with no doubt were the blame should lie.
“We are not here to attack Mark Webber,” Whitmarsh told BBC Sport.
“But at the point of the incident Lewis is legitimately in front, he left space, in hindsight he should have left more, but it was not reckless and he was unlucky to come away like he did. Mark was lucky to get away with it.” BBC Sport
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