Attempting to defend his latest mental error, a clearly annoyed Hamilton said:
”It is what it is.
”Jenson was in front of me and he slowed down to get his gap. I was coming up
to the last corner to make sure I had a gap between me and him. It wasn’t
that big.
”Just as I was coming into the chicane I looked in my mirror and I saw Mark
diving up the inside of me.
”Out of nowhere, he just shot up the inside and nearly crashed with me, so I
had to avoid him.
”And then I saw … I didn’t even see Michael as I gave Mark room, but he
nearly crashed on me on the left, so it was quite dangerous.
”I don’t know what the hell he was doing, but he went off onto the grass. It
was just the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever experienced in qualifying.
”It was an interesting moment, and I couldn’t get a lap after that
”Certainly the two people across the line before me did some very strange
driving in that last corner.
”I really hope somebody finds the footage for what happened because it wasn’t
right and it stopped my last qualifying lap.”
Asked whether he would make a complaint to the stewards, Hamilton said: ”No,
I’m still third, so I can still race from there.”
Offering his explanation, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: ”With
Lewis it was tight. We told him not to back up and let so many cars by.
”Unfortunately he got hustled by at the last corner and in so doing missed
out on posting a time in the last lap.”
As for Webber, he believes Hamilton was in the wrong and he said: ”The team
were saying ‘come on, get on with it, we’re running out of time, we’re not
going to be able to start the lap’.
”Lewis tried to block, but I kept going. He didn’t want me to come past, but
I clumsily got through.”