Lewis Hamilton believes that his poor start in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix was not his fault, saying he went through his usual procedures when trying to get away from pole position.
Hamilton entered the race at Monza hopeful of extending his Formula 1 drivers’ championship lead, only to slip back to sixth after bogging down off the line.
Hamilton passed Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas through the first stint of the race before perfecting his one-stop strategy to overhaul the Ferraris and finish second.
Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg capitalized on Hamilton’s setback, picking up his seventh win of the year and cutting the gap in the standings to just two points.
Hamilton took account for the bad start over the radio during the race, but said afterwards that he did not think it was his error.
“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t my mistake,” Hamilton told NBCSN.
“But I knew my guys would be sitting there, panicking, nervous that I’d be angry for the rest of the race. I wanted to put them at ease.
“I think I just got wheelspin. I need to go have a look at see the actual problem was. That was what decided the race, and I did my best to come back.
“I don’t know what happened. I had no hesitations.”
Hamilton’s poor start was not the first that has cost him in 2016, much to the Briton’s chagrin.
“It’s quite easy to be honest. Composure is not an issue. Getting off the line has been,” Hamilton said.
“This is maybe three or four race wins lost from the start. That’s something I can’t really afford for the next few races.
“If we would have got away the way we needed to today we would have won the race. The pace is there in qualifying and race.”
