Mercedes AMG Petronas
Lewis Hamilton says he was surprised that Mercedes left him out for one extra lap at the end of his second stint in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Leader Nico Rosberg had stopped and Hamilton had expected to come in one lap later, so consequently pushed on to take out the maximum from his Medium tyres.
But Mercedes left Hamilton out for an extra lap and the Brit spun under braking for the Descida do Lago, having lost grip in his rear tyres.
Hamilton recovered to finish the race in second, meaning he heads to Abu Dhabi with a 17 point advantage over Rosberg.
"[I'm] naturally disappointed to make a mistake like I did, but I kept pushing, that’s most important," he said.
"I think the protocol is when he [Peter Bonnington, Hamilton's engineer] says to push, that means generally in that lap, which I did, but then I wasn’t coming in, it took me by surprise and the rear tyres were dead."
"It’s not a big issue, we lost points and I was clearly quicker. In one respect it’s a mistake but we’ve got another 1-2, broken a record as a team and I enjoyed the race.
"As I said, lots to take from today, was not expecting it to be as good today in terms of pace as I was behind him [Rosberg], apart from that spin I was really happy with the job of the team and myself."
