Hamilton philosophical after failure

The McLaren driver suffered a suspected rim failure with two laps to go, something that sent him off the track and into the tyre wall.

While second position would have moved Hamilton into second in the standings, his retirement dropped him down to sixth, 21 points behind team-mate Jenson Button.

"It was [disappointing]. It was quite a good race for me," Hamilton told the BBC. "I had really good fun out there. It was nice obviously to take a step forward and split the Red Bulls. The team did an incredible job.

"It was great to come here with such a good step forward for us and it would have been perfect for the team in terms of the Constructors' Championship and also for the drivers' but these things happen.

"I don't know what it was. I just felt it was kind of unfortunate to have another tyre blowout, but I guess we'll find out what it was. There's many more races to go."

Hamilton was positive about McLaren's performance in the race, but admitted he was "blow away" by his DNF.

"I was just cruising to the finish line, really," he said. "Obviously there was like 40 or so laps on those tyres so to keep up with Mark was impossible basically so I just wanted to maintain the pace and keep the spot.

"It was great points for me but I'm absolutely blown away that it was the last two laps of the race that something happened, but this is motor racing and you just keep your chin up and look forward."