Hamilton's hopes suffer major blow

The McLaren driver had found himself unable to match the pace of early leaders Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel over the early stages of the race, and had dropped behind third place Webber during a round of mid-race pitstops.

Following a safety car period, caused when Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna collided at Turn 18, Hamilton tried to snatch third off Webber after his Red Bull Racing rival was held up by a lapped Virgin Racing car.

Hamilton drafted past Webber on the run down to Turn 7 on lap 36 and took an outside line - but his left rear wheel was tagged by his rival on the exit of the corner and he was pushed wide.

Although Webber was able to continue, the impact damaged Hamilton's car enough to force him out of the race - putting another dent in his title ambitions just two weeks after he crashed out of the Italian Grand Prix.

The stewards deemed the incident required no action.