Hamilton takes blame for costly mistake

The McLaren driver will line up 16th on the grid after losing control of his car at Mirabeau and damaging his left rear suspension in the process.

"My race weekend for a win is for sure over," he told the BBC. "I just don't know what I was thinking. I made a mistake. It had been going well all weekend."

Hamilton had spent free practice right among the front-runners and ended Saturday morning practice just 0.225s slower than Fernando Alonso's fastest time, and admitted he was gutted to have let down his team.

"I apologise to the team for wasting their time, and at least Heikki is doing well," he said. "He is up there. I wish him all the best. Tomorrow I will do the best job I can to try and recover from it.

"It's just been tough, but you learn from these mistakes and they are bound to happen. It's unfortunate it happened in the first part of qualifying, but this is what makes you stronger."