Lewis Hamilton cops to bad performance at Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton accepted the blame for the errors that led to him finishing sixth in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

The world champion made a bad start, ran off the road on the first lap and later damaged his car in a collision with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Hamilton said: “I was all over the place. I really don’t have any words to describe what happened. It was a really bad performance from me.”

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel won ahead of Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and Ricciardo. Running fourth on the first lap after a bad start, Hamilton ran wide at the chicane, dropping to 10th place, fought back up to fourth place and then broke his front wing colliding with Ricciardo after a restart following a safety car period.

Hamilton added: “I don’t know if it was a lack of concentration or what. I pushed right to the end but there were so many obstacles. It’s like there were two different directions and each time I chose the wrong one.”

He admitted it was “bizarre” that in the circumstances he had extended his championship lead over Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Vettel took the surprise win after taking the lead from Hamilton off the start line into the first corner. Vettel’s victory – his second of the season – was dedicated it to French driver Jules Bianchi, who died last Friday. Behind him, team-mate Kimi Raikkonen passed Rosberg into Turn Two for second place as Hamilton dropped back to fourth.