Lewis Hamilton thinks the power issues that forced his retirement from the Singapore Grand Prix cost him a shot at an unlikely victory in the closing stages.
Mercedes had struggled for pace all weekend in Singapore but a well-timed safety car left Hamilton in fourth on soft tyres, behind three drivers on super-softs. With Sebastian Vettel backing Daniel Ricciardo into Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton was within two seconds of the lead in the knowledge he could stretch out that stint before switching to the quicker tyre later in the race.
However, just as it seemed the race was falling into place for the world champion he reported a sudden loss of power and quickly dropped through the field. The broadcasted radio highlighted the frantic measures Mercedes and Hamilton were going through to try and fix the problem, with the world champion eventually telling the team to retire the car and save the engine.
"I was feeling super-optimistic in the car, I really was," Hamilton said. "The guys in front were on the option and I was on the prime and I was easily keeping up with the guys. I thought 'you know what, we've got a race on our hands here'. The pace was nice, really under control. I was just waiting for that time when I could push and see what I could get from the car but obviously I didn't get that. I lost power and I was hoping they would have a quick fix but it never came."
Hamilton was speaking before a fan was seen on the track, a moment which triggered a second safety car and would have likely nullified Hamilton's chances of doing something different on strategy. The reigning world champion said retiring the car was the most sensible option once he had dropped to the back of the pack.
"I just lost power and they were telling me to make all these changes but nothing was making any difference. When I got overtaken by the Marussia's [Manors] I knew really winning was out of the question. They started to pull away so I knew points would be out of the question."
The result means Hamilton's championship lead over Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg has dropped to 41 points.