Lewis Hamilton took "full responsibility" for his inability to challenge for the podium at the Belgian Grand Prix, which he reckoned was traceable to his Formula 1 practice crash in FP3.
In the last moments of the final practice session of the weekend, Hamilton carried too much speed through Turn 13 and skittered across the gravel. He clipped the barrier with his rear-right wheel, and ultimately pulled up with considerable damage to the rear end of his car.
The Ferrari mechanics were able to repair his SF-26, but Hamilton reckoned that the balance hadn't been the same as it was pre-shunt and this cost him time in qualifying.
He felt that the five-second penalty received for his clash with Russell at the start of the race was harsh, but ultimately a "domino effect" from his Saturday crash as this put him out of the position he thought he was capable of achieving.
"I don't count myself unlucky. I think about my mistake that I made yesterday," Hamilton told Sky. "So, I take full responsibility really for the fourth place I ended up getting because I damaged the car.
"Then when they rebuilt the car, they missed something on the suspension. The balance was completely different. So that meant I was probably a good couple of tenths, maybe three tenths slower than I should have been in qualifying.
"And then I ended up further back, got in the incident, five-second penalty. So just like a domino effect from a mistake from myself. But the team have been doing a great job with strategy, pitstops. We are continuing to improve the car.
George Russell, Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
"I think our pace today without the damage, I think we could have been challenging for the win."
Hamilton also had the misfortune of hitting a mechanic on his exit from the pitlane, as the Ferrari gantry showed the green light - just as the mechanic was taking position to change the flap angle of his front wing.
The mechanic had no injuries, but the contact ensured that Hamilton had not received a tweak to his front wing angle and thus struggled at the start of his hard-tyre stint.
Despite Hamilton's brushes with the stewards, after taking a five-second penalty at Silverstone for moving before the lights went out, he feels encouraged by Ferrari's step up in performance.
"Yeah, definitely really encouraging," he said. "I think the team have been making great decisions with strategy, and we've been really elevated across the board in how we operate on the weekend. And then today, as I said, I think we had the pace to win today.
"We've given everything to come away with the points. It comes down to the cars moving in the right direction. It's just down to the team themselves. They're bringing improvements.
"I need to come correct next week to make sure I deliver the way I know I can deliver."
Additional reporting by Filip Cleeren.
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