McLaren defend Hamilton over pitlane crash

Hamilton slid into the back of Raikkonen as the Ferrari driver waited at a red light at the exit of the pits. The crash put both men out of the race.

As well as Hamilton apologising to Raikkonen for what happened, autosport.com has learned that Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug and McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh also said sorry to Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali on Sunday night in Montreal.

Although the incident has turned the fight for the world title on its head, McLaren chiefs have jumped to the defence of Hamilton.

Haug said: "These things happen. I never was a friend of safety cars - it's a Mercedes but it doesn't bring us luck!

"As for the mistake, we win as a team and lose as a team. We could see Lewis had the speed, he was absolutely under control until the safety car took our advantage away.

"Anyway, two cars were stationary at the end of the pitlane, Lewis hit one, so it was our mistake at the end of the day. But I definitely will not blame him because he was so good, so special here, on this tricky circuit. He was in a class of his own in the first 20 laps.

"Everyone saw we had the speed to win it, but didn't do it. The good thing is the leader is only a few points ahead, so it's quite close together."

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said there was little point wasting time analysing what he feels was a simple accident.

"Nico ran into the back of Lewis, which showed what happened - it was a chain reaction as they were accelerating out of the pitlane," he explained. "Obviously the guys in front started to stop, Lewis was watching the back of the cars, driving off their actions, you know, we don't have brake lights.

"At the end of the day, he put himself out of the grand prix, as simple as that, and one that he was comfortably leading. We wanted to go longer, so our stop was long, and we wanted to cover off the outcome of what unfolded [with the safety car], those with long strategies took advantage, and that's where the race was turned around so dramatically by that safety car deployment."