Lewis Hamilton admitted he had no explanation for his terrible grid getaway at the start Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
The series leader and defending three-time world champion plummeted from pole position to sixth as Mercedes teammate German Nico Rosberg took the lead and then reeled off his second successive victory.
Rosberg finished ahead of the Briton and cut his lead from nine points to two with seven races remaining.
“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 the sequence exactly the same, I think I just got lots of wheel-spin – a bit like Nico’s start in Hockenheim.
“We have a relatively inconsistent clutch. In the past, they told you the clutch temp and it 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 back to second place, but the time lost meant Rosberg cruised to his first Monza win.
“I could see Nico pulling away and while anything can happen, the chances of the win decreased lap by lap, second by second…
“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 so hard to overtake here, but we live to fight another day,” added Hamilton.
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