"Second was the best l could do after the start l got," admits Hamilton after slipping to sixth when race started as Rosberg cuts his points lead to two
Sunday 4 September 2016 23:20, UK
Lewis Hamilton was at a loss to explain what had gone wrong at the start of the Italian GP after his hopes of winning the race were scuppered by a terrible start.
The Briton's bid to claim a 50th career victory, and extend his championship lead, were dashed when a slow getaway meant he was overtaken by five cars and fell to sixth at the first chicane.
"I don't know what happened, l did everything as normal," Hamilton said in the post-race press conference after finishing second to Nico Rosberg.
"I did the sequence exactly the same. I just got lots of wheelspin."
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Hamilton had initially taken blame for the poor start over team radio, but added: "To be honest, I said that to reassure my engineers who I knew would be feeling nervous."
Difficult starts had been a feature of the season's early races for Hamilton, but recent getaways had proved stronger and he had not lost a position on the opening lap since the Canadian GP in June.
After dropping to sixth, Hamilton then took 11 laps to clear both Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas, by which time Rosberg was 15 seconds ahead and still had the two Ferrari drivers acting as an effective buffer between them.
"I could see Nico pulling away and l knew from quite an early stage that winning the race would not be possible," Hamilton added. "Second was the best l could do after the start l got."
Rosberg's second victory in as many weeks mean the German has cut Hamilton's pre-summer break title lead of 19 points to just two, with seven rounds of the season to go.
"Nico was pulling away and having an easy, breezy roll up there - that's what it's like when it's first and you're behind slower cars," he told Sky F1.
"He did a great job and I just had to get back up to second."
Don't miss the F1 Report for the analysis of the Italian GP. The Telegraph's Daniel Johnson and former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley join Natalie Pinkham in the studio at 8.30pm on Wednesday.
