British
GP2 Series favourite Lewis Hamilton admits that he blew a chance to score big points at Imola after being penalised for passing the safety car in race one, but insists that the situation wasn't as clear cut as it could have been.
The ART Grand Prix driver had made a strong start to his second race weekend in the F1 feeder series, leading free practice and qualifying third for Saturday's feature race, but saw his hopes of a maiden victory go up in a haze of tyre smoke as he was adjudged to have jumped the start.
Having bided his time behind leader Gianmaria Bruni in the opening laps to help prevent his car from overheating on a warmer than expected afternoon, Hamilton had to take a drive-through penalty for his indiscretion, but worse was to await after Lucas di Grassi crashed at Villeneuve on lap eight.
The safety car was deployed and Hamilton took the opportunity to come in and take his penalty, rejoining in what he thought was last place. Seeing the two Campos Racing entries waved past the Mercedes, he followed suit, assuming that it was waiting to pick up the leader. However, his judgement proved to be a little off, as much of the field had chosen to make their mandatory stops, and he was black-flagged for the infringement.
"When I came into the pits for the penalty, I thought I was last joining the track," he confirmed, "The pace car was there, the light was green and I thought I'd to go through. It was all a bit confused."
As a result of his exclusion, Hamilton started race two from the back of the grid, from where even a brilliant recovery drive could not lift him higher than tenth place, outside the points.
"It isn't so bad especially on such a track," he insisted, "Some could see it as frustrating, but the main thing is to try to learn from this weekend. I feel sorry for the team, as the guys did a great job and they should have been rewarded with a win, but we need to stay positive. It's early stages, there's a lot more to come, from the car and from myself. We have to learn and keep progressing - we only need to pick up a bit of confidence and I'm sure we'll be able to win races."
With team-mate Alex Premat losing a podium slot in race one and being nerfed off the road on lap one of Sunday's race, ART boss Frederic Vasseur was left to rue what might have been.
"Once again, it was a weekend of wasted opportunities," he sighed, "It is upsetting because it is dangerous to let go of nice opportunities in such a competitive championship. It is important to remain positive, though. We have more points than we did at the same time in 2005, and our competitiveness is not in question."
