Lewis Hamilton has admitted he was to blame for the high-speed crash that curtailed his running during practice for the Bahrain GP.
With just over nine minutes of the second practice session at the Sakhir circuit remaining, Hamilton's McLaren skewed off the track after it climbed the kerbs on the exit of turn seven and slammed into the tyre wall. While he emerged unscathed, the same could not be said of his shattered car, and his McLaren team now face a race against the clock to put it back together in time for Saturday's qualifying session.
Without quite going as far as to say that 'Yes, it was my mistake', Hamilton acknowledged he had been the cause of the crash. "It was a shame that I ended what had been a productive day going off the circuit and hitting the barriers at Turn Seven," he told reporters. "I was just pushing and sometimes these things happen. I am absolutely fine, and hopefully the damage to the car is not too bad.
"We would have had to change our engine and gearbox anyway so hopefully I am not going to be too unpopular with the boys in the garage."
