Hamilton pays for first corner gamble

FUJI, Japan: Lewis Hamilton paid the price for a moment of first corner madness at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.

"It was a bad race, that's what happened," snapped the McLaren driver, who started on pole position but ended the day with his Formula One championship lead trimmed to five points with two races remaining after failing to score at Fuji.

"I made a mistake and I paid for it but this sort of thing happens."

Formula One 2008

The 23-year-old Briton was slapped with a drive-through penalty for cutting across Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in a frenetic dash to the first turn and finished 12th.

Hamilton's blunder was compounded when Ferrari's Felipe Massa, his closest title rival, finished eighth and was later promoted to seventh.

The error raised the spectre of a repeat of last year's failure, when the then-rookie allowed the title to slip from his grasp with Raikkonen wiping out a 17-point deficit over the last two races to snatch the title in Brazil.

Hamilton, who had faced accusations from BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica of dangerous driving before Sunday's race, had said he would "take no silly risks" at Fuji but the reality proved otherwise.

He was wrong-footed at the start and attempted to duck inside Raikkonen's line at the first corner, triggering mayhem and pushing the Finn off the track. Raikkonen went on to take third place behind Renault's winner Fernando Alonso and Kubica.

MASSA TANGLE

Hamilton then tangled with Brazilian Massa on lap two, a collision that forced his McLaren to spin and left him in 18th place and struggling with a damaged car.

Full coverage: Australia in India | More cricket news

Massa was given a drive-through penalty for that incident. "Yes," said Hamilton, asked if he thought his first corner dive had been risky. "Of course. You can always look back and wish you'd done something (different). You just have to keep your head up and keep going."

"We both got the same penalty but I didn't hit anyone," said a visibly upset Hamilton. "He did, but I guess that's the name of the game."

Hamilton, who could yet become Formula One's youngest world champion at the next race in China, played down the significance of Sunday's setback.

"I don't think it makes any difference," he said. "I'm already getting over it. We're going to make sure we win the last two races -- not at any cost, but we plan on winning."