McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton has described his race at the Malaysian Grand Prix as a disaster and has questioned his team's strategy.
The 2008 champion made a good start from the front row of the grid, but was passed in turns one and two of the opening lap by Renault's German driver Nick Heidfeld.
Hamilton fought back but his charge was smothered by a slow pit-stop and a poor set of tyres, followed by a fourth pit-stop.
His race worsened following a collision with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso as the former team-mates fought over a podium spot with just over 10 laps to go. The Spaniard clipped Hamilton's rear wheel, snapping off the left end plate on the Ferrari's front wing, and damaging the floor of the McLaren.
Alonso was forced to pit immediately and finished sixth, while Hamilton's race unravelled as he struggled both with the damaged floor and worn tires in the final few laps, dropping from third to seventh.
Stewards gave both drivers a 20-second penalty; Alonso for causing the collision and Hamilton for changing direction more than once to defend his position. It was not enough to cost Alonso sixth place, but it did drop Hamilton below Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi into eighth.
Hamilton fought back but his charge was smothered by a slow pit-stop and a poor set of tyres, followed by a fourth pit-stop.
His race worsened following a collision with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso as the former team-mates fought over a podium spot with just over 10 laps to go. The Spaniard clipped Hamilton's rear wheel, snapping off the left end plate on the Ferrari's front wing, and damaging the floor of the McLaren.
Alonso was forced to pit immediately and finished sixth, while Hamilton's race unravelled as he struggled both with the damaged floor and worn tires in the final few laps, dropping from third to seventh.
Stewards gave both drivers a 20-second penalty; Alonso for causing the collision and Hamilton for changing direction more than once to defend his position. It was not enough to cost Alonso sixth place, but it did drop Hamilton below Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi into eighth.
Despite their similar punishments, the two drivers left Malaysia with conflicting emotions: Hamilton described the race as a "disaster" and questioned his team's strategy, while Alonso was buoyed by Ferrari's competitiveness in race conditions.
"That's racing (the collision), but that wasn't the biggest problem to me," Hamilton said. "Our strategy wasn't good. So (the collision) doesn't really matter ... I'm sure it wasn't great (for the car and its downforce). But really the strategy was the main impact."
Hamilton said his pit stops were earlier than he had wanted. He was in second place — only 3.9 seconds behind race leader Sebastian Vettel — at the midway point of the race, but was leapfrogged by team-mate Jenson Button after the third set of stops and then subsequently had the collision with Alonso.
While Button managed to do the last 19 laps on one set of tires, Hamilton could not make them last that long, running wide off the track at one point as he was passed by Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Renault's Nick Heidfeld and Red Bull's Mark Webber.
"It was a disaster ... It was a really terrible race," he said. "I had a shocking race to be honest, it was absolutely shocking. But that's racing."
As for the fact Alonso did not lose a position, Hamilton added: "Then he's not had a penalty [but] I'm not going to argue or disagree with the penalty.
"From my side I'm not allowed to move more than once. Do I class it as dangerous? No, but that's the rule. Twenty seconds is not such a bad penalty for it. As for Fernando, he hit me, he got a 20-second penalty, but it didn't really do anything for him. It doesn't exactly work out as a penalty, but again, that's racing."
His old rival Alonso was more positive despite the sixth-place finish.
"(The collision) cost me maybe the podium today," Alonso said. But the Spaniard added the car felt "much better today. We were fighting with the McLarens, with Webber as well so that was a surprise for us ... It was a good surprise today, fighting with them."
Alonso and Hamilton were team-mates at McLaren in 2007, but the relationship between the Spaniard and the then-rookie Briton quickly deteriorated and Alonso returned to Renault in 2008 before joining Ferrari in 2010.
"That's racing (the collision), but that wasn't the biggest problem to me," Hamilton said. "Our strategy wasn't good. So (the collision) doesn't really matter ... I'm sure it wasn't great (for the car and its downforce). But really the strategy was the main impact."
Hamilton said his pit stops were earlier than he had wanted. He was in second place — only 3.9 seconds behind race leader Sebastian Vettel — at the midway point of the race, but was leapfrogged by team-mate Jenson Button after the third set of stops and then subsequently had the collision with Alonso.
While Button managed to do the last 19 laps on one set of tires, Hamilton could not make them last that long, running wide off the track at one point as he was passed by Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Renault's Nick Heidfeld and Red Bull's Mark Webber.
"It was a disaster ... It was a really terrible race," he said. "I had a shocking race to be honest, it was absolutely shocking. But that's racing."
As for the fact Alonso did not lose a position, Hamilton added: "Then he's not had a penalty [but] I'm not going to argue or disagree with the penalty.
"From my side I'm not allowed to move more than once. Do I class it as dangerous? No, but that's the rule. Twenty seconds is not such a bad penalty for it. As for Fernando, he hit me, he got a 20-second penalty, but it didn't really do anything for him. It doesn't exactly work out as a penalty, but again, that's racing."
His old rival Alonso was more positive despite the sixth-place finish.
"(The collision) cost me maybe the podium today," Alonso said. But the Spaniard added the car felt "much better today. We were fighting with the McLarens, with Webber as well so that was a surprise for us ... It was a good surprise today, fighting with them."
Alonso and Hamilton were team-mates at McLaren in 2007, but the relationship between the Spaniard and the then-rookie Briton quickly deteriorated and Alonso returned to Renault in 2008 before joining Ferrari in 2010.
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