McLaren shares the blame for Hamilton's qualifying mix-up

Hamilton lost time as Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher dived past him at the chicane after he had backed up to build a gap to Jenson Button ahead of him - and he missed crossing the line before the chequered flag came out.

That meant he was unable to prevent Button and Sebastian Vettel moving ahead of him on the grid, and he was deeply disappointed with what happened.

And although Hamilton blamed himself for what happened, team principal Whitmarsh thinks the outfit itself should take some responsibility.

"In fairness we could have been more explicit to Lewis about time running out," said Whitmarsh. "It was very tight and people were trying to make gaps. It was a difficult situation; Lewis was being a little bit hard on himself. We could have more explicit about him pushing himself towards the end of that lap."

Hamilton reckoned, however, that he should take some responsibility because he had elected to make some changes to his front wing settings.

"It was nothing to do with the team," he said. "The team was telling me what I needed to do to do a lap. The car in front was close to me, and the two guys behind me were racing to get to the line. And they got past while they were just making the last corner.

"There is not really much to say to it. It is not the team's decision, that was my mistake - I should have got out sooner, but I was making a wing setting change which meant I went out later, so it was my fault."