Hamilton vows to leave error behind

The McLaren driver led the opening laps in China but lost his advantage when his wet tyres wore down on the drying track.

With the tyres deteriorating rapidly he headed to the pits to change to dries, but ran wide on the entry and ended up getting stranded in the gravel trap.

Speaking about his feelings to ITV, Hamilton said: "When I was out of the car I was just gutted because it was my first mistake all year and to do it on the way into the pits was not something I usually do.

"You cannot go through life without making mistakes. But I am over it and we look forward to Brazil. The team will be working hard to make sure the car is quick enough there, and we still have points in the bag."

Hamilton said there was nothing he could do to prevent his car running off the track as he came into the pits.

"We were having a great race and we didn't know if it was going to rain or not," he said. "The tyres were getting worse and worse and you could almost see the canvas underneath. When I came into the pits it was like ice, I couldn't do anything about it.

"My mirrors were completely dirty, so I couldn't see through them. I couldn't see my tyres; they just felt like they were finished.

"I was coming in that lap so it could have worked out perfectly, I think we had the pace in the dry and I am sorry for the team, they did a fantastic job as always. We have still got one more race to go and we can still do it."