Looking more than a little sheepish, Lewis Hamilton has held his hands up and admitted that he messed up today.

After all the talk of not taking unnecessary risks, the Englishman appeared to throw it all away at the first corner in an incident that resulted in a drive-thru penalty.

Subsequently, he was sent spinning by title rival Massa in a controversial incident that cost the Englishman any serious hope of points, and, more importantly, possibly the World Championship crown.

"You can wish you did something differently but I made a mistake and I paid for it," Hamilton told reporters after the race, and looking more than a little shell-shocked having probably been at the receiving end of a verbal slapping from his employer.

"It's damage limitation," he continued. "Let's forget this race ever happened and move on."

Referring to the subsequent incident involving Massa, he said: "We both got the same penalty but I didn't hit anybody, he did! That's just the name of the game, I guess.

"My personal disappointment is the start and the way I'm treated," he continued. "Everyone went wide at the start but for some reason I got a penalty. I can't understand that.

"But it doesn't really matter if I agree with it, I can't change it and I just need to keep it together. I don't think it makes any difference. We'll move on next week and make sure we win the last two races.

"We plan on winning," he added, "not at any cost, but we plan on winning."