Published>Sun, Sep 26 10 09:38 PM
Lewis Hamilton's Formula One title hopes suffered a major blow on Sunday after the McLaren driver retired from the Singapore Grand Prix following a collision with championship leader Mark Webber.
Hamilton, in fourth place and on fresh tyres after his pitstop, tried to overtake the Australian on lap 36 after the safety car had come in. But as the Briton moved across Webber's Red Bull into turn seven the cars came together.
Hamilton suffered race-ending damage while Webber was able to continue and finished in third place.
"I saw Mark made a mistake and got caught up with a backmarker so I was in a position to slipstream him ... going into turn seven," said Hamilton, who won in Singapore last year.
"I thought I was enough past him, I couldn't see him and turned in and tried to leave enough room on the inside and the next thing I know I got hit.
"I think it's a racing incident. I came out a bit unfortunate but that's racing."
Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, angrily tossed the steering wheel out of his stricken car after his McLaren came to a standstill. Race stewards investigated the incident but decided to take no further action.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso won the race ahead of Webber's team mate Sebastian Vettel. McLaren's Jenson Button finished fourth.
It was Hamilton's third retirement in four races and leaves him trailing championship leader Webber by 20 points with four races remaining.
"Twenty points is massive and with four races to go that is a big gap, I have to get my head down and hope for something," added Hamilton.
Webber leads the world championship on 202 points while Alonso's win vaults him into second place on 191. Hamilton slips to third place (182) ahead of Vettel (181) and Button (177).
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