Lewis Hamilton admits his bad start at the Japanese Grand Prix was the result of a mistake, rather than damp patches on the grid.
Hamilton, who had been alongside teammate Nico Rosberg as Mercedes locked out the front row, fell to eighth after bogging down off the line. The reigning world champion fought his way back through the field to finish third and acknowledged after the race that the poor start was of his own making.
"I don't think the damp patch had anything to do with it, I made a mistake," Hamilton said. "Working my way up from there was tricky but I did the best I could. I just got wheelspin."
An inspired middle sector on hard tyres helped Hamilton scythe his way through the order to claim his 100th career podium in F1. Despite Hamilton's recovery drive to the podium, the three-time world champion dropped a further 10 points to Rosberg in the drivers' standings, with the German now leading the championship by 33 points with four races to go.
Asked if he can take positives from his fightback, the Briton replied: "I did the best I could from where I was in the race, but I'm happy to get the points.
"The middle stint the car felt good, generally the car felt great throughout the race so it wasn't really a problem. I'm not really quite sure if I was overtaking backmarkers or not but I was just overtaking whoever I could. So I had the run there and fought hard at the end but just couldn't make it."