Hamilton suffers another Monza nightmare

MONZA, Italy, (Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton suffered  another Monza nightmare yesterday when he went out of the  Italian Grand Prix without completing a lap and lost his  championship lead.

The McLaren driver banged wheels with Ferrari’s Brazilian  Felipe Massa at the Della Roggia chicane while challenging for  third place, breaking the McLaren’s front right suspension.

Massa’s Ferrari was undamaged and he went on to finish  third, with team mate Fernando Alonso winning and McLaren’s  Jenson Button runner-up after leading more than half the race.

Hamilton dropped to second overall, five points behind  Australian Mark Webber who finished the race in sixth place.

The top five drivers are now separated by just 24 points —  less than the reward for a single win — with five races  remaining in what is shaping up to be the closest fought title  battle in decades.

“The championship is not over, but it’s days like this and  mistakes like I made today that lose world championships,” said  Hamilton. “I only have myself to blame.

“It’s one of those days, just in the wrong place at the  wrong time. There’s nothing else I could do about it really. I  got a good start but don’t know what I was thinking,” he told  reporters.