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Formula 1 Italian GP
Hamilton: I don't know what happened at the start
Lewis Hamilton says he has no idea what happened at the start of the Italian Grand Prix after his terrible getaway cost him all chances of victory.
Pablo Elizalde
Edited: Sep 4, 2016, 2:47 PM
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The Mercedes driver had dominated qualifying, beating teammate Nico Rosberg by nearly half a second, but made a very poor start from pole.
Hamilton dropped to sixth place before the first chicane and had to fight his way back to the front.
The world champion conceded all his chances were gone after the start.
"Obviously it was lost at the start," said Hamilton. "I knew that my engineers would be worried or nervous of how the start went, so that is why I tried to put their mind at ease.
"I don't know what happened. I will try to understand it later. I did everything normal. I did sequence exactly the same, I think I just got lots of wheelspin. A bit like Nico's start in Hockenheim.
"We have a relatively inconsistent clutch. In the past they told you the clutch temp and was easier to hit targets. Now it's a lot less easy to know what the clutch will be delivering or won't.
Hamilton managed to climb up to second place, but the time lost meant Rosberg was untroubled, cruising to his first victory at Monza.
"I could see Nico pulling away, and while anything can happen, the chances of the win decreased lap by lap, second by second," Hamilton added.
"I knew in the early stages that winning the race was not possible, but I could try. I got up to second and that is the best I could do.
"It's hard to overtake here. We live to fight another day."
Today's result means Hamilton leads the championship by just two points from Rosberg.
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Previous article Italian GP: Rosberg gifted Monza win as Hamilton fluffs start
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